New School, New life
by Wolven-1
Summary: This is from my old account and my first Fic! AU Lime Yaoi, and its as my sister calls it EYEBROWSHIPPING!
1. Chapter 1

_NEW SCHOOL, NEW LIFE_

Author's note: Ok, this is my first ever fanfiction! So I'm really looking forwards to your comments and reviews…. but please no flames… they may make me cry. But if you feel you really have too then do it…

SUMMERY: Gaara moves to a new school and attempts to keep his past a secret. However through some very … dramatic events it all comes out. How will he cope? Lee/Gaara slight Naruto/Sasuke. Rated M for safety and adult content. Serious OOC. Yaoi.

CHAPTER 1

Gaara sighed as he walked through the door of his new school, it was government school which was completely different from his old privet school for many reasons, number one: no uniform, number two: his siblings were not here number three: no one here knew him and the one thing they both had in common: he was alone.

Not many people got kicked out of Blackwood high, but he managed too, not that it bothered him, this way he was away from the people who try to be someone their not, and the less time spent with his siblings the better. It wasn't like he didn't care for his siblings just… they had an odd way of showing it towards each other. He was standing in the hallway waiting for a chosen student to come and show him around. Not that he really wanted to be anywhere near people, but he didn't have a say in the matter.

The school he stood in seemed normal enough, the students were probably annoying and judgmental, little pricks that will ignore him like back in his old school. The hallway became eerily quite, the calm before the storm. As the hall flooded with students he pulled his long sleeved shirt into the palms of his hands, he was wearing a long sleeved black top, with baggy old jeans, his hair was scruffy and covered his forehead and half way down his eyes. (A/N: Gaara doesn't have the black around his eyes yet. Sorry, but its in the next chapter and every other chapter after it.) He really didn't need everyone knowing how messed up he was on his first day or at all for that fact, but knowing school it was bound to be found out just like last time.

He closed his eyes in frustration, he had been waiting for half an hour while this unknown and unwanted tour guide went to his home room and now there were hundreds of kids swarming the halls like a colony of ants, not that anyone in this school would get that strong or far in life. Gaara didn't have a high view of this place; if he had his way he would be at home alone in his room just as he wanted to be right now.

"Hi, you must be Gaara right?" a blond kid came into view causing him to be pulled out of his loathing of this school, he was wearing a bright orange shirt and matching cargo's, his eyes were blue and he had three lines of either side of his face, he couldn't tell if they were scares or something else. _Great, I am getting a tour by a nazi with war wounds._ Gaara sighed as he noted to himself of the boys looks.

This kid obviously didn't want girls to like him, not with the bright orange mixed with blue and matching pants. Not that Gaara really cared weather he was gay or not, he just wanted to get this tour over with so he could never speak to this kid again. _I wonder if you're wearing matching boxers too? _He thought sarcastically. Gaara nodded.

"Well I'm Naruto, I'll show you around. You'll like it here it's really... oh look shinny." Naruto stopped in front of the trophy case. _Oh please god no_ Gaara begged silently as Naruto continued to talk, he defiantly had some type of disorder, in any case the red head began plotting the blonds death, yes Gaara had crimson red hair, but he never really got teased about it, people didn't like being near Gaara. Naruto was doing a very good job at pissing Gaara off, it usually took more to get under his skin but the spaz was an exception. Gaara began counting how many times the boy shot a grin, laughed at his own jokes or fell over because he had a habit of walking with his eyes closed.

Gaara fallowed silently through the corridor as Naruto explained odd facts that wouldn't have interested Gaara even if he had said it would shut the blond up. Gaara was getting to the point where he was begging the non-existent god for a way to keep the blond from talking. Anything would do, just something to cause the Aryan looking boy to close his mouth and keep it closed for more then three seconds.

"Shut up Naruto." Gaara turned to see a raven colored flash push Naruto to the ground. Naruto yelped as he connected with the floor. An imaginary smile passed over his face. _I instantly like him._ Gaara thought, he didn't know who the kid was but if he could make the blond headache silent he was worth keeping around for the time being.

Naruto struggled to his feet attempting to make it seem that he wasn't hurt.

"This is Sasuke." Naruto smiled. Indicating the boy who was standing to his right, he had black-blue hair and his eyes were brown, nothing uncommon about him, he wore three quarter gray cargos and a dark blue top. Once again Gaara was found thinking about the possibility of homosexuality being common in this school.

"I don't care." Gaara breathed, it was the first thing he had said at his new school and it sounded very pompous, however he couldn't care less about wanting to make friends at this hell hole called school, he just wanted the day over so he could go home and pretend to fade away like he always did.

A sudden flash of green passed by Gaara's eyes.

"Hey Lee! Come back and say hi to Gaara!" Naruto called. _Yes, by all means keep introducing me to people I couldn't care less about, I don't want to be antisocial at all, I love company._ The red head was bitterly pleased with his inner comments, however his face remained the emotionless mask as it had been since the start of the day.

The green boy froze and turned. He was taller then Gaara and it looked like he had placed a bowl on his head and cut around the rim, he wore green jeans and a green skive.

"Hi, I'm Rock Lee, but you can call me Lee." The boy held out his hand, Gaara looked at the boy.

"Your name is Rock?"

"Well, people call me that because I'm hard as stone." Lee grinned.

"I thought it was because we all use to..." Sasuke was cut off as Naruto elbowed him in the face. Gaara watched Sasuke stagger backwards and glare at the blond. _In two moves I could have broken his arm._ He thought, the green presence was still strong and he turned back to the tall boy.

Gaara noticed that Lee hadn't pulled his hand away. _Oh shit, he wants contact. I don't do contact, not unless it's fighting in exams for school…_The red head carefully and slowly lifted his hand to Lee's. A panic ran through his body as the bowl cut's hand began to close around his, just as it was about to clasp shut, Gaara pulled his away almost shaking. He took a step backwards away from the taller boy. _Well that went better then expected. _He mused sardonically as Lee looked down at his hand in confusion.

"Umm…." Lee raised an eyebrow. _Wow, holy crap dude, how many people's eyebrows did you steel?_ Gaara asked himself.

"Sorry, I don't… I'm not… I have to go." Gaara turned on his heal and began to walk swiftly away from the group leaving Naruto feeling very upset that he didn't enjoy his tour. Sasuke watched as the boy and his backpack turned the corner and raised an eyebrow.

"Hey wait its athletics day! You need to change!" Lee called as he fallowed the retreating figure. _And now I'm being stalked, perfect. _Gaara rolled his eyes. He didn't want to be fallowed or spoken to or noticed in anyway by anyone. He just wanted to ghost through school like he always did and he couldn't stress that enough. Still Lee fallowed him.

"I don't care, leave me alone." Gaara said coolly. Lee didn't take heed of his warning.

"I bet you're just nervous."

"You bet on the wrong horse." Gaara responded as he turned into the change rooms.

He hoped that if he made it look like he was doing as the boy wished he would be left alone, however no such luck as Lee fallowed him; Gaara rolled his eyes in annoyance. _It's like people are trying to piss me off _he noted. Lee watched as he placed his bag down and removed his top, Lee's eyes fallowed Gaara's four-pack torso, and it was obvious that he did something to keep in shape. His eyes traced the form of the well-defined features all over Gaara's body, somehow his form was almost calling out to him. Lee studied the topless Gaara for some time before looking up into the jade eyes of the entity; his eyes were so sad, hurt and full of pain, but for some reason Lee couldn't look away it made Lee feel cold, but at the same time very turned on. _Well done Lee, you are attracted to the new kid who looks like he could eat your soul, bravo you homo!_ Lee scorned himself.

He wasn't ashamed about being gay and everyone knew it, but his taste in boys was somewhat…creepy in many ways. His eyes suddenly met Gaara's aqua ones. He had felt the boys eyes traveling along his body the second he turned around. I strange feeling overcame him as he looked at Lee, when their eyes met Gaara felt his heart skip.

"Oh… sorry, I was… I…" Lee fumbled the words.

"Perving?" he finished with an upward inflection as if it was a question. Lee went red with panic and embarrassment at being caught staring at the new kid. Gaara really didn't care; he placed his long sleeved shirt on the seat and dug in his bag for his extra shirt he had brought for sports. Gaara placed his shirt beside his bag and pulled his new one on, it was short sleeved and lose fitting. After he slung his bag on his shoulder and moved towards the door. Lee watched as Gaara walked away, as he sat on the bench he noticed Gaara had left his shirt on the seat. Lee frowned as he picked it up. _He is hot, but something's odd about him…_

"Can I have my shirt?" Gaara asked from the doorway, Lee nodded and held it out to him, Gaara absent mindedly reached for it exposing his wrists. _Shit!_ Lee saw the cuts on Gaara's wrist, they were healing, but they were noticeable.

Lee looked up at Gaara, Gaara avoided his gaze.

"Gaara?" Lee questioned. Gaara remained silent. Lee watched as Gaara pulled his hand back with out his shirt. His face was an expressionless mask as it had been all day. Lee felt his muscles tense, this could have gone a lot better then it was, his heart was racing and blood was screaming in his ears as they beat in time with his pulse. Gaara turned and left again, his face didn't show any signs of distress or concern but his mind was spinning and screaming.

Lee stood with Gaara's shirt in his grasp, he remained like that for some time, unaware of how long had passed. Naruto found him.

"Lee! There you are! Come on your gonna miss your… ah Lee? Hello?" Naruto waved a hand in front of Lee's face but gained no response, Naruto raised an eyebrow and put his hand behind his head. Sasuke soon joined them.

"Naruto come on! I only have a ten minute break and I am not giving you a … why is Lee standing like that?" he asked noticing not only Lee's presence but also his blank expression. Lee began to breath heavily and slid down against the wall. Still holding the shirt he curled up into a ball and sat there for a while.

"Lee? Maybe you should go home." Naruto suggested as he pulled Lee to his feet, Lee nodded showing the first sign of recognizing they were there. He allowed himself to be led out of the change rooms and to the sick bay.

Gai was shocked to hear that Lee had gone home, he fostered the boy and knew something was wrong, Lee would never let a sickness stop him from competing. Naruto was attempting to avoid one of Gai's famous and rather stupid 'youth' speeches.

"Naruto, why did Lee go home?" Gai asked as he dragged Naruto back to his side. _Thank you merciful god it isn't a youth speech_ Naruto thought.

"Well he was in like shock or something, I don't know why he just looked…" Naruto watched Gai's face become worried.

"He looked like he did before he lived with you." Sasuke finished as he let a javelin fly free from his hands. Gai's eyes widened.

"Excuse me." The three of them turned to see Gaara behind them. "Do you know where Rock Lee is?"

"He just went home sick, why are you looking for him?" Naruto asked sounding like an over protective parent.

"He has my shirt, I want it back." Gaara answered, a confused expression passed over everyone's face.

"Why does he have your shirt?" Sasuke asked.

"I left it in the change rooms."

"That doesn't explain why he has it." Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"He was going to return it." Gaara crossed his arms over his chest, careful not to allow his wrists to show. The last thing he needed right now was a teacher who looked a lot like the shirt thief to know what he didn't need to.

"Well he lives about three blocks away, if you want I can give him a call and see if he could bring it around." Gai suggested, Gaara shock his head.

"No, I will go and get it."

"Number 43 Kane street!" Gai called as Gaara walked off.

"Gai…. You just told a total stranger where you and your homosexual foster son, who was in too much shock to notice us let alone speak, live." Sasuke pointed out.

"So?" Gai asked.

"**Do you think before you speak?**" Naruto yelled in his ear. Gai shrunk back a bit from the very twitchy blond.

"What Naruto means is… do you think it was a good idea to let Gaara go to your house alone? With your homosexual foster son?" Sasuke asked.

"Lee is still Lee, no matter what, I don't care if he's gay, he's fine." Gai crossed his arms missing the point completely.

"It's not Lee's orientation we're worried about." Naruto mumbled under his breath.

"Give it up Naruto." Sasuke sighed, Naruto started to giggle; Sasuke gave him a confused look.

"That's what you said to me all of last night." Sasuke felt his cheeks burn as a slight blush rose in his face. He then turned and began to walk away.

Lee had moved past the shock stage and was now looking through a box he always kept locked and out of sight. The box was small and full of painful memories for Lee. As he dug through it his eyes filled with tears, one question screamed in his head. _Why? Why would Gaara do that? Why would he tarnish his pure and smooth alabaster skin? What would cause him to do that?_ Lee's hand brushed over something cold, he stopped and pulled it out.

It was a switchblade with rust colored stains on it. Blood, his blood from a past he never wanted to return to, his life was better now, he didn't need that comfort, but why did Gaara? Lee recalled the pain and hatred imprinted in the blade. He found himself pushing up the sleeves of his skive and inspecting his arms. His wounds were gone; they had cleared up long ago. The only scares left were the ones no one could see. Lee closed his eye, he could see it, feel it, and he could even smell it. The rain he ran through the day he left his home, the pain in his heart, the ache he felt, and the sickening knowledge of the only he could feel relief.

He saw the knife and pulled it open, the blade shimmering in the moonlight. He had pressed the blade to his skin and watched the red liquid seep out and run down over the other clits in his wrist. The doorbell brought the boy out of his horrid memories and back into the present. The placed the knife back in the box and returned the box it its place in his closet. He looked down at his wrists, nothing had changed since he went into the past, he was fine, as were his wrists. Lee walked to the door and pulled it open. His jaw dropped as he saw the fiery red hair off Gaara standing at the door. Gaara stood arms crossed a few feet away.

"G…Gaara?" Lee asked trying to keep his eyes from drifting down to his wrists.

"Shirt." Gaara's voice remained emotionless.

"Oh…right" Lee led Gaara through the house to where his bedroom was. _Green everything…what a surprise_' Gaara thought amused. Lee picked up the shirt from the bed. Gaara grabbed hold of it and drew it in close. Lee watched Gaara's eyes. Jade no wait…. More like aqua green, beautiful and his soft skin, red hair. Lee shook himself. Gaara turned and began to walk away.

"Wait!" Lee called. Gaara stopped. "Do you want a drink or something before you go?"

Gaara thought about this, deciding to stay he turned and sat on Lee's bed. Lee went to go get some lemonade from the kitchen. Gaara stayed in Lee's room, he lay down on Lee's bed in thought.

"Are you tired?" Lee asked form the door.

"I don't sleep." Gaara responded, Lee sat on the edge of his bed.

"Why?" Lee asked after some time. Gaara inhaled deeply, the lungs being filled with air gave him some time to think before answering the question.

"I don't like what sleep brings." He sighed.

"That's not what I meant." Lee looked at the box, which stood barely visible in his closet. Gaara fallowed his gaze as he sat up.

He didn't care what secret had Lee so concerned about him, nor did he care about Lee wanting to him, Gaara was more curious as too why he wanted Lee to talk to him, to like him. A thought crossed Gaara's mind, why was he still there? He never decided if he could tolerate Lee, he was the type of person Gaara would never surround himself with, but something about the boy amused Gaara. Lee lay down beside him and out his arms behind his head. Lee met Gaara's eyes and Gaara and himself swapped position. It was easy to tell that Lee had lost himself in thought.

Gaara gazed down at the boy; Lee was in great shape that was obvious. As Gaara's eyes fallowed Lee's sculpted body he felt his heart quicken pace. To Gaara's surprise he wanted to touch the older boy's chest. He frowned at the thought. _What is he thinking about? Wait… why do I care? Why am I still here? I'm going home._ Gaara looked to where Lee had closed his eyes, he took this as his chance to leave, only his body didn't obey the commands given to it and he found himself lying down beside Lee again.

They both sighed in unison. They lay there in silence for some time. Lee moved his arms to his side grazing Gaara's hand. The shutter was felt through the bed. Gaara pulled his hand up to his chest, clutching it as if it had been burnt. Lee turned to his side and faced Gaara. His skin was only a few shades off the snow-white wall he lay beside.

"Why don't you like contact Gaara?" Lee asked.

"You ask to many questions" Gaara responded. Lee kept his eyes on Gaara.

Gaara turned on his side; it annoyed him that Lee was taller then him. Lee furrowed his brow as he replayed Gaara's response to being touched. _Nothing about him makes sense, he seems to hate everyone but if that's the case why doesn't he just leave? He wants to be alone but at the same time he wants to be near people_ Lee looked into Gaara's eyes, something in his eyes made Lee's heart sink, they were so sad. He wanted to help Gaara; he wanted…honestly he wanted to touch him, so he slowly brought his hand up to Gaara's cheek.

A flash of panic went through Gaara's eyes, it was obvious that he wasn't use to contact and he was scared about it. Lee hesitated, giving Gaara a chance to move away, when he didn't Lee placed his hand lightly on Gaara's face, Gaara flinched a tiny bit as the weight of Lee's hand pressed his skin down slightly. His skin was smooth and soft Lee shifted closer, careful not to move to quick or to slow, he didn't want to blow this and he didn't stop until their faces grazed each other. Gaara's heart was pounding in his ears at Lee's touch; he was confused at his body's reaction, he didn't know why he had let any one this close to him but for the first time he didn't want the person who was trying to get close to him to burn in a rotting hole as he stood over it and watched their face melt into the earth, no this time Gaara wanted to get closer. Was that even possible? He slowly and carefully placed a hand on Lee's shoulder. Lee moved closer to Gaara. Gaara found himself allowing the gesture. Their lips were only centimeters away when Naruto walked into the room.

"Lee I came to…. wow!" he stood frozen. The two boys sat up and jumped away from each other.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

_Why did I let that boy so close to me? Why did I want his touch? Why did my heart race? Why did my cheeks feel like…oh shit! No, no, no, why? Of all the people in the world why did it have to be the boy with the over sized eyebrows and the seriously gelled hair?_ Gaara screamed in his mind as he walked up the driveway. This day could not have been weirder then it already was.

He pulled out his keys and unlocked the door. Gaara walked into his house, Temari stood just on the inside of the door quite obviously waiting for her youngest brother to finish his first day at his new school. Kankuro was too her left and didn't seem interested in anything Gaara had to say despite the fact that he was yet to open his mouth. Gaara took no notice of them and passed them continuing to his room. Temari, being the annoying big sister and mother figure in Gaara's life fallowed him.

"So, how was school?" she asked as she sat on his bed that he barely ever used. Why did he even have it? A way to make the room seem less empty I guess, his trade-mark sand gourd sat beside his desk which was in front of his window, unlike Lee's room most of Gaara's room was black or crimson like his hair.

Only after a brief silence did Temari notice the expression on her little brothers face. Yes expression, he looked melancholy, more so then usual, which was very hard to do to him. Gaara sat on his bed beside her. _Hey this bed is comfy… why don't I lie down on this more often?_ Temari gave Gaara a look, which seemed to say: Tell me now and I won't drag Kankuro and myself down to your school tomorrow.

Gaara sighed.

"Temari…. I think…I have a crush on someone."

Temari's eyes lit up. _That's it? He has a crush? Why the hell would that upset him so much? Then again this is Gaara… but awwww! My little brother has a girlfriend_ Temari giggled as she went on a massive list of what he and his new girlfriend could do; Gaara felt his heart almost sink as he opened his mouth to correct her.

"It's a boy…. I like a boy Temari." Gaara held his breath and waited for the harsh words to cut into him, sharper then any knife would be. To his surprise Temari squealed in joy and jumped around. _Oh this… cannot… end well…_ Gaara thought looking at his sister's reaction.

She turned around and crossed her legs as Gaara did the same; the two sat facing each other. Temari was wearing her skirt and shirt like she always did. Looking like a bit of a tramp but the complete opposite to one. Gaara on the other hand was in baggy jeans and a long sleeved shirt, which was not flattering at all.

"So, what's his name?" she asked.

"Lee."

"What's he like?"

"He's friendly, and hot… and really nice." Gaara didn't look at Temari.

The siblings sat and continued to discuss Gaara and his new object of desire. He did feel a little strange about sharing this with his older sister. But it also felt kind of nice being able to tell someone. As Gaara continued to explain the confusion that is Rock Lee, his sister began to go through his clothes. Pulling out a lot of clothes she deemed 'unworthy' and threw them in the trash, soon all Gaara had left was form fitting clothes, fishnets, skinny jeans and a few dog collars and chains.

Temari began to talk about her life away form home, all her friends, guys she liked, guys she hated, school ect. Gaara was perplexed at Temari's problems; they were so similar to his only completely different and hard to understand. It made his head hurt trying to figure them all out. He was pulled off his bed and shoved into the bathroom. He sighed as he took a shower.

The hot water ran down his skin, it was soothing, almost like he could let all his pain and troubles wash away with the rest of the water as it was swallowed by the drain. A thought enveloped his mind. What would Lee look like in the shower? He could picture it. His olive skin glistening with the liquid crystals clinging to every curve and every feature of his body, his hair would be slightly longer but messy, not as perfect. His strong shoulders relaxed by the running water, his torso completely exposed his…Crap, Temari was still waiting for him, how long had he been like that?

He turned off the water and looked down at the clothes Temari had left for him on the sink. Black skinny jeans with chains on them, a maroon shirt with normal sleeves and a fishnet top to go on top, the final piece of clothing was a spiky dog collar. _A dog collar, Temari? Seriously?_ Gaara thought as he placed it around his neck. His red hair was still everywhere and hid his forehead as it had that day. Once he stepped out his sister nearly fainted… nearly… but she didn't, a sly smile crawled across her face. _Oh crap she's lost her mind_ Gaara thought. Suddenly he was being dragged into her room and sat him down on her bed.

Then she pulled out a brush and make-up. Gaara looked slightly confused at his big sister. Temari began to brush and style her little brothers hair, allowing his tattoo above his left eye to show, it was the same color crimson as his hair so it was hidden when it wasn't styled. Then she moved on to the fun part… the make-up. She only used the eyeliner; after making her little brother resemble a raccoon she took a step back to examine her work. She smiled.

"What do you think?" Temari asked as Gaara looked at himself in her mirror.

"My scares show." Was the only thing Gaara found wrong with the new look his sister had given him.

"That's good. It makes you look dangerous and sexy it's good!" Temari squeaked. Gaara thought of his time at Lee's house, the way Lee cared. It annoyed him that Lee didn't stop asking questions or that he cared about Gaara with out knowing him. Gaara was ripped out his thoughts by Kankuro's presence.

"What the hell are you doing Temari?" he asked as he saw his older sister in her pajama's sitting on her bed with his younger brother who looked like a panda.

"Gaara's gay!" Temari chirped happily.

"I hate this family." Kankuro turned away. Gaara gave a hurt sigh and hung his head low. It hurt when his brother talked like that. Though that's basically all he said, he didn't get along with Gaara very well or at all honestly. Temari walked into his room and began to yell at him for a while. Gaara stood and walked into his room. He lay on his bed and tried to figure out why he liked Lee in the first place.

Lee was in bed too; he had tried to explain to Naruto that he was freaking out over nothing but he didn't listen, he never did. _I almost kissed him. Wait a second … he almost let me!_ Lee thought to himself, along with other images and ideas in his mind, which made his stomach, do flips. Gaara was different but Lee still wanted to know why he hurt himself. Again Lee's eyes flashed towards the box. He didn't care if it caused him pain; he liked Gaara, even if it had only been one day. He couldn't wait until school tomorrow; he just wanted to see Gaara again.

He wondered if Gaara would be wearing the same jeans and shirt tomorrow or something similar, and his hair it had looked scruffy and unkempt, probably because it was a sports day. He didn't seem like the sporty kind of guy. Lee smiled as he went back to the split second when he realized he liked Gaara. He knew he thought Gaara was hot but he hadn't notice that he actually like Gaara until his lips were about to reach his, he realized his heart was racing. He had no idea what he was doing up until that moment, he just let his body move of it own accord.

Lee closed his eyes and drifted into a very Gaara filled dream. His alarm went of at seven and he was out of bed in a flash and under a shower. Lee couldn't help but smile as the thought of Gaara, everything about him made Lee tingle all over, his eyes, his hair his…_Wow calm down focus, school not Gaara_. A sad feeling entered Lee's body as he also thought that nothing would ever happen between them, he couldn't deny that he liked him, nor did he want to.

He liked Gaara's eyes, his hair, his body, his skin, his body, his shyness, also his body…did he mention his body? The only thing he didn't like about Gaara was the thought of him cutting himself, he was all over the scares they were hot, but the idea of Gaara being in that much pain upset Lee. The shower shut off and Lee walked into his room and pulled on a green shirt and jeans very similar to the ones he wore the day before.

As Lee walked through the doors he was greeted by Naruto. The boy's walked through the halls to where a group of students were crowded. Lee pushed his way through the crowed and stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed it was Gaara everyone was looking at.

Lee's heart almost burst and his cheeks went red as Gaara's eyes fell on him. A very light shade of pink rose in Gaara's cheeks in response to Lee's growing crimson glow.

"Lee do you want to come over today?" Gaara didn't see the joy in Lee's eyes, as he kept his eyes on his locker. The girls who had surrounded Gaara held their breath.

"Yea, sounds good." Lee answered after what seemed like hours. Gaara's face remained the same only his blush became darker.

Naruto walked past (he ran off to find Sasuke) with Sasuke and they called to Lee, after he waved goodbye to Gaara he ran to catch up with his friends. Sasuke and Naruto both snickered as Lee's face went a deeper red as Naruto told Sasuke what he saw Lee and Gaara doing the day before, Sasuke didn't care, he just found it funny.

"So Lee… you really like Gaara? I mean you've only known him for a day." Naruto yawned as he prepared to take his usual math's nap.

"Yea, I like Gaara, I don't know what about him is so powerful … but wow." Lee finished with his mind slipping into fantasy.

Gaara found that Temari's make over worked a little too well everyone seemed interested. The thought amused Gaara, but his thoughts kept wondering to what could happen at his house. It made Gaara's heart flutter when he thought of Lee in his room. His mind found its way back to the task at hand, which in this case was Drama class. He liked watching the school kids act like monkeys; his old school didn't have an arts department.

It was an uptight school where they robbed you of your individuality, so basically he hated it. Gaara had been kicked out of that place because they caught him in the boy's bathroom with a stained crimson razor. That day Temari went through and took out everything sharp in his room. Kankuro just looked at him with sadness in his eyes. He never really talked to Gaara much, it never bothered him though. Gaara's daze was broken by two boys having an argument over which soccer team was better. The teacher did little to nothing to stop the argument; a sigh escaped the red heads lips only to be met with the screams of girls who were watching him with the utmost interest. _Oh god…Temari I blame you for this… I have fan girls…_ Suddenly his mind was on Lee.

Lee had touched him; his hand was rough, but soft on his skin. It was the first time he had any contact since he was an infant. But what annoyed Gaara was the fact that Lee was able too, he didn't recoil from it and Lee didn't hurt him. The only other person who could do that was Temari, and even that was rarely. The group of girls sighed as Gaara leaned back to relax. This constant surveillance was beginning to agitate him.

Lee was feeling the same way about Naruto, like usual he wasn't listening or shutting up. Sasuke had grown tiered of Lee and Gaara's visit to the bedroom and was now listening to his iPod trying too drawn out the rest of the world. It wasn't working.

"Ya know Lee since you have a free now, you could go sit in on his Drama class." Naruto chirped.

"Naruto … I swear to god!" Lee growled as he went back to finishing his homework from his previous class. Naruto continued to pester him about Gaara. Big surprise Naruto is an annoying tool.

"Sasuke … make him stop!" Lee begged. Sasuke sighed and whispered something into Naruto's ear. The boy became silent and returned to his work. Lee looked up at Sasuke in disbelief. No way he could make Naruto silent, the boy didn't have an off switch he just kept going and going and going! How the hell did Sasuke do that?

"What did you say to him?"

"He could use the handcuff's tonight." Sasuke smirked. Lee's eyes shot from the blond to Sasuke a number of times before he let out a disturbed groan. A mental picture arose in his head; Lee could have lived a healthy, happy life with out seeing that. Naruto and Lee sat in silence; Sasuke went back to his music. The other students mumbled here and there but other then that no one said much.

That was until a girl came into the study hall screaming.

"Itachi is fighting with Gaara!" Sasuke's eyes darkened at the mention of his brother's name. Lee's eyes became worried at Gaara's name. Sasuke, Lee and Naruto looked at each other then ran to the boy's bathroom. It was true, Gaara and Itachi were fighting, well Itachi was, Gaara was just taking the beating, and he didn't even attempt to block any of the kicks or punches. Naruto and Lee stood in front of Gaara as Sasuke walked up to his brother.

"What the hell is your problem Itachi?" Sasuke yelled.

"He started it." Itachi spat.

"I'll end it too if you like!" Gaara's voice showed no emotion. Lee turned to Gaara but his aqua eyes were set on Itachi. Sasuke looked at his brother.

"If you ever come near any of my friends again, I will make sure you never see yours again." The crowd retreated as Itachi left with a smirk on his face.

Gaara turned to leave, but Lee pulled him back, he turned to see the concerned faces of three boys.

"What did you do?" Naruto asked. Gaara was silent. Lee looked at him closely, he was still holding onto his fishnet shirt. Lee's eyes slowly traveled from his shoulders down to his wrists. He took a deep breath and turned over Gaara's hand exposing his wrists, the crimson liquid was crawling down from a gash just above his scares. Naruto and Sasuke suddenly knew why Lee had frozen the day before. Gaara pulled his arm away in alarm as Sasuke reached for it. Lee took it again; Gaara flinched as Sasuke inspected the wound.

"It's not self inflicted." Sasuke's voice was full of hate as the three boys realized what Gaara already knew; Itachi had been the one to pierce Gaara's skin. Gaara pulled his hand away again.

Lee seemed distant as the four boys walked back to the Drama classrooms.

"See you after school Gaara." It was the first thing Lee had said since the fight. Gaara nodded and disappeared inside the door. Naruto placed a hand on Lee's shoulder. Lee sighed in relief and smiled, he was relieved that Gaara hadn't cut himself. He was now very pissed off at Sasuke's brother, but as long as Gaara wasn't hurting himself Lee didn't care.

"I should explain the other day." Lee sighed as he and Gaara walked out of the empty school. Gaara didn't respond so Lee continued talking. He explained why he freaked out, and that Gai was his foster dad and that he himself was gay, the almost kiss never came up. Gaara listened to Lee's story and related to it in some ways. Then it was Gaara's story; Lee's heart sank when Gaara explained his life, or well parts of it. Lee couldn't be mad at Gaara for doing that to himself, he never had a chance. Lee's thoughts were cut off when Gaara turned into the yard of a massive house.

"My sister wants to meet you. You're my first. …Friend." Gaara paused at his door. "That raven boy called me that too…" Gaara turned to grinning Lee. A sigh escaped the read heads lips as he pushed open the door open to see or more hear Temari yelling at Kankuro.

Gaara closed the door without a sound and pushed Lee up to his room. Gaara's room was a maroon color; Lee gasped as he saw the room. Gaara smiled a little at his reaction. Gaara told Lee to sit while he went to the bathroom. Once out of Lee's sight he took off his shirt to revile the wounds he had gotten from Itachi. His back was cut up; it looked as if someone had hit him with the cat-o-nine tales. His chest and stomach were fine. Gaara froze as he looked in the mirror. In the reflection he saw the door to his bathroom open and Lee stood in the doorway with Temari.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

"Oh my god! Gaara what happened to you?" his sister cried at the sight of her little brothers torn back, it seemed to still be bleeding, but in fact the blood at dried and it was starting to heal. Gaara was silent, Temari ran to the kitchen for the first aid box. There was no point, the bleeding had stopped, but Temari cleaned up the dried blood and left the two alone.

Lee sat on Gaara's bed as Gaara (still shirtless) leaned against the opposite wall. Lee couldn't hold his mind from going to how close he was to kissing Gaara, it was driving him crazy, the guilt of almost forcing himself on someone, the desire to know what those smooth lips tasted like, and the fact that no matter how hard he tried, Gaara probably would never see him in that light. Lee sighed. Gaara was fighting a loosing battle with his common sense, unable to decide if he should tell Lee of his own sexuality. It really hadn't come as a surprise to Gaara that he was gay; girls never really sparked his interest. Both boys were lost in the silence, and within their own minds. Lee couldn't take the guilt anymore.

"I'm sorry." Lee's voice broke the silence. Gaara looked up at him, his eyes had previously been on his gourd.

"For what?"

"Yesterday, my room, on the bed…." Lee kept his eyes on the ground. Gaara crossed to his bed and sat beside Lee.

"Don't be." Gaara's breath was warm on Lee's neck,

Lee looked up from the ground. He was surprised at how close Gaara had gotten. His gaze was fixed on Lee; he was only a few centimeters away. Lee became nervous and started to fidget with his fingers. Gaara saw Lee turn a deep shade of red. Slowly he lifted his hand to Lee's chin, Lee jumped at Gaara's touch, he didn't know why he was so jumpy. He leaned back a bit, embarrassed at his actions and trying to make sense of the situation. Gaara moved forwards leaning over Lee. Their lips grazed and both Lee and Gaara felt a chill down their spine. There was a moment of stillness, neither of them moving.

Both of them began to blush just as their lips were about to clash together…. Kankuro walked in.

"Gaara dinner…" he stopped as he saw Lee leaning back on his elbows and Gaara leaning over him with his hand on the far side of Lee, their lips nearly touching. Both went a deeper red and fixed themselves. Kankuro just looked at them. _**God fucking damn it!**_Gaara screamed in his head but kept his face calm.

"I really do hate this family." Kankuro mumbled as her turned away. Gaara and Lee stood to fallow him. Temari smirked as Lee entered the room with Gaara but her smirk vanished as Kankuro walked in. Gaara shot him a glare; Temari caught on. _Oh Kankuro tell me you didn't walk in on them. Please tell me you didn't. _Temari knew he had, she sighed and smiled at Lee again.

"So Lee what do you do in your free time?" she asked after she had set out dinner.

"Sport, I like to keep fit." Lee grinned. Gaara stayed silent through the meal. Once it was finished Temari made Kankuro clean up while Gaara and Lee returned to his room, Gaara gave up and collapsed on to his bed. Lee did the same and lay next to the shirtless red head.

"Gaara…thank you." Lee sighed. Gaara didn't question why Lee was thanking him. He was more interested in other things.

"Why did you leave your family?" Gaara asked as he looked up at the roof in thought. He couldn't begin to count how many nights he lay awake doing the same, wishing his life away.

"It's easier to run then to stand and fight." Lee's eyes were on the sky, which was now rich with the glow of the stars.

"Why don't you like what sleep brings?" Lee asked quoting Gaara from the previous day. Gaara tensed at the question, it was clear he hadn't been expecting the question, but he couldn't be bothered fighting with Lee about why he didn't tell him.

"My mother haunts my sleep, she screams while I dream, she's always crying." Gaara felt Lee's hand brush past his. Once again Gaara flinched, Lee placed his hand just next to Gaara's. The red head sighed as glanced down and the separate hands, he moved his over slightly, ghosting Lee's little finger. Lee drew his hand up and carefully placed it over Gaara's. Gaara avoided his eyes and kept his on the roof, his face tingeing a slight pink.

"So what do you do at night?" Lee turned to look at Gaara. Gaara smirked as he sat up, pulled Lee to his feet and led him to the bathroom.

He put a shirt on (Lee was greatly upset at this) and watched as Gaara pushed one of the squares of lose plaster up into the attic and climbed through. Lee fallowed, once he was up there he noticed the younger boy had lit a candle. Looking around he saw the room was bare, like completely empty, it was a forgotten room. Gaara moved some tiles on the roof to the side and he climbed up further.

Once again Lee fallowed him. They were now on the roof of Gaara's house and the view was breath taking, Lee felt calm and free, nothing could bring him away from the feeling of peace while being on the roof. A thought dawned on Lee as he sat and gazed up at the stars with Gaara. The roof was his escape from the world, and he was showing it to him, a sad feeling set down as well as silence.

"This is boring! All there doing is sitting on the roof!" Naruto complained as he lowered his binoculars.

"You know Naruto, this isn't how I thought you would use my hand cuffs." Sasuke sighed as he glanced up at the blond who was hanging from the branch above him. He had the handcuff on the branch and looped through his belt loop so he was hovering between the branch above his boyfriend and the one Sasuke was sitting on. So basically Naruto was using the handcuffs as a tether to hang between the branch above and the one below at which Sasuke was sitting.

"This is more fun." Naruto replied.

"Oh you're so not getting ANY for a month." Sasuke glared at him. "And why are you using binoculars? We're less then three meters away from the roof." He raised an eyebrow at the end of his question. Honestly sometimes it felt like Naruto was more interested in other peoples relationships then his own. The blond ignored him and went back to spying on his friends as they continued their silent conversation. Suddenly Naruto started screaming in agony.

Lee and Gaara glanced towards the tree.

"He really thinks we don't know he's there." Lee shook his head. Naruto continued to scream.

"Sasuke there's a possum on me! Get it off get it off! Get it off!" the two boys could be heard struggling in the tree.

Lee placed his hand over his face in embarrassment and Gaara sighed.

"First off it's a Raccoon! Second his name is Shukaku and if you hurt him you will be in more pain then you are now!" Gaara called as he stood and walked over to the edge where the tree was.

"You named him?" Lee questioned.

"Yes…he's my one real…." Gaara stopped unable to finish the sentence.

"Friend?"

"Friend…Sasuke called me that too, what does it mean?" Gaara asked. Lee turned to face him.

"You don't know what a friend is?" Gaara shook his head ashamed of not knowing something so trivial.

"We're your friends Gaara. Friends are people who hang out with you for who you are." Naruto answered as he and Sasuke climbed onto the roof.

"People who don't care where you're from or how you got here. People who forgive and forget the mistakes you made and who are there for you no matter what." Sasuke sat down with Lee and the blond as the raccoon curled up in Gaara's lap.

The crimson haired boy began to pat it in thought then turned to the three boys.

"But, I like Lee more then…" Gaara cut himself off realizing what he was saying and bit his bottom lip. While trying not to make eye contact with anyone he caught sight of shinny silver handcuffs hidden in the blonds pocket. Sasuke grew bored of the silence.

"Hey I have an idea." Everyone was now looking at him. "Since it's a Friday night why don't we go to my place for a sleepover?" he asked, Naruto was already staying over he didn't see why inviting Lee and Gaara would cause any trouble. Lee nodded and looked over at Gaara.

"Do Lee and I have to bring our own handcuffs?" Gaara asked looking back to the blond's pocket. Naruto started to laugh Sasuke glared at both of them and Lee just went red as more images entered his mind.

The four boys walked through the night Gaara replayed his sister's reaction as he came down stairs with two more guys. It was a funny sight she dropped her bowl of ice cream onto the floor and as Gaara cleaned it up asked permission to stay at Sasuke's that night. Temari just nodded, completely shocked that not only had Gaara made three friends, and two of them had been spying on him. Naruto's voice filled the silence as they all walked through the streets to Sasuke's house who didn't live that far away from Lee. Sasuke's house was small but nice; Itachi was playing xbox completely in his own world until Sasuke spoke.

"Itachi I'm home, my friends are staying the night!"

"Is your boy-toy here?" he asked without looking up.

"Yes."

"Ok, no orgies"

"Where's the fun in that?" Sasuke called as he rushed everyone into his room.

Once the door was closed Naruto pushed him to the bed and started making-out with him. Lee blushed at the sight and looked away, Gaara watched intrigued by the now shirtless boys. Sasuke opened his eyes and pushed Naruto off him remembering the other two boys were in the same room.

"So what do you want to do first?" Sasuke asked as he lay back on his pillow. Naruto sat at the foot of his bed; Lee and Gaara were sitting on the ground.

"Hey Gaara, what did you do to make Itachi homicidal today anyway?" Naruto asked. Gaara pulled out a bottle of purple nail polish from his pocket.

"He spends too much time on his appearance." Sasuke looked in horror at the bottle. Slowly he took it and ran into his brother's room.

"Gaara you wear eyeliner how can you make fun of Itachi for his nail polish?" Naruto asked as his boyfriend returned and sat down next to him. Gaara shrugged.

"How long have you had that tattoo for?" Sasuke asked. Gaara's eyes became sad when he thought about it.

"I was seven. No more questions please." Gaara looked at his hands, which were in his lap.

Lee reached out and placed his hand over Gaara's. A silence fell over the teenagers, none of them wished to break it. So they listened to Itachi as he moved from the TV to his room.

"Oh my god! My nail polish you came back to me!" the silence was broken by the laughter from each boy, even Gaara. After the boys had finished laughing the silence returned. It didn't take long for Naruto to grow bored of the scene; a sly smile crossed his face. He moved closer to his boyfriend.

"Sasuke I'm bored."

"What do you want me to do about it?" He asked. Sasuke then noticed the gleam in Naruto's eye. "No."

Naruto moved closer and began kissing the back of Sasuke's neck. Sasuke's body tensed at the feeling and his expression changed from annoyed and bored to full blown lustful. A blush came over him as he stood dragging Naruto to his feet and out of the room.

Lee rolled his eyes. Gaara glanced at Lee then back at his hands. Lee had moved in front of him and looked at the tattoo, which was above his left eye. Gaara fallowed Lee's figure up and down a number of times.

"What happened when you were seven Gaara?" Lee broke the silence. Gaara sighed and stood up, he moved towards the door. Lee grabbed his hand; Gaara stopped and lowered his head.

"What makes you think something happened when I was seven?"

"Gaara please." Lee dropped his hand Gaara turned to face Lee a rage flared inside him.

"Nothing. Nothing happened. Nothing you can fix." Gaara snapped. Lee looked at him with hurt eyes. Neither of them looked at each other.

"I'm going to get some air." Gaara turned to leave again only to have Lee race in front of him and slam the door shut.

Gaara's eyes darkened. In a second Gaara had Lee up against the door, his hand around Lee's neck. Lee's eyes now held fear.

"Fine, you want to know why I have this tattoo, I'll tell you." Gaara's voice was cold, Lee gasped.

"Sorry."

"I got this tattoo because when I was seven I realized that I was alone, no one cared about me. This is a constant reminder of that!" Gaara let go of Lee and paced the room.

"A reminder?" Lee asked between gasps. Gaara looked at Lee who was now sitting against the door, a red mark on his neck. Gaara's eyes widened.

"I hurt everyone. My own family is afraid of me!" Gaara looked at his shaking hands. He sat on the bed with his head in his hands. Lee stood up. Gaara tuned away and lay with his back to Lee.

"I can never sleep because I can't protect myself in my dreams. And when I do sleep I wake up screaming." Gaara whispered.

A heavy feeling over came him. Lee moved closer to Gaara. A stinging liquid slipped down the red heads face, he sat up looking at the water falling onto his jeans.

"Wha…What's…"

"Your crying Gaara. Its what happens when something hurts your heart." Lee sat on the edge of the bed.

"I feel sick."

"That happens too." Lee's voice held no emotion.

Gaara watched as the tears fell with more speed. He noticed that his breathing had become rapid and disjointed. Lee reached out and drew the shorter boy to him. Gaara rested his head and one hand on Lee's chest; Lee had his hand around Gaara. They sat like that for sometime.

"You know, when I first came to this school after the foster system found me, the kids ignored me, they threw rocks at me, hence the name 'Rock Lee' and I just took the abuse, because I thought I deserved it." Lee's eyes were distant. Gaara could feel Lee's heart beating.

Lee sat with his feet on the bed and his back against the headboard, still holding Gaara against him. Gaara had stopped crying but he didn't think he could move.

"Everyone blamed me for my mothers death." Gaara's voice was dry. Lee pulled Gaara to him tighter.

"You know, we all have a past, some of it good and some not so good." Lee sighed. Gaara felt pain build up in his chest as Lee spoke, nothing anyone could have done could match the constant guilt he felt for just being alive. No one understood his life or the way he had to live just so his siblings could have a better life then they do now. He of course didn't voice his opinion. He didn't want anyone to know him or understand him, not in so much detail. He didn't want to be the cause of someone else's pain; he didn't want to cause the end of someone else's life, not again.

Lee continued to speak unaware of Gaara's thoughts racing through his mind.

"Naruto is an orphan, his mother and father died just after he was born." This caught his attention. Gaara thought that losing his mother to the grave was bad enough, but Naruto had lost both his parents. But Naruto didn't have to deal with his father. "Sasuke's parents abandoned him and his brother" this again made Gaara think, he didn't like that he was gaining common ground between the others, it was a bad idea for him to get close to people, he knew that, but for some reason he didn't want to push these people away like he did with nearly everyone else, even if it was for their better.

Once again Lee's voice broke through Gaara's thoughts.

"And I have a foster father. You're not alone." Gaara didn't respond, he didn't know how too. Those words felt like a dagger being shoved into his chest, which caused his tears to flow again only briefly. Lee rested his head on Gaara's. _Why wouldn't you run? I could have hurt you, but you stayed. Why?_ Gaara felt his eyes close. Just before he left the waking world he pleaded for his dreams to be bearable.

Sasuke and Naruto walked in on the sleeping boys. Lee had drifted off.

"Isn't that cute?" Naruto smiled.

"Yea. So round two?" Sasuke asked as he pulled the handcuffs out.

"I love Fridays." The blond grinned as they left the room for a second time.

"Why do I never get to do this in my own room?" Sasuke asked as they walked down the hall.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

Gaara sat up gasping, sweat dripped from his forehead. The room was flooded with early morning sun, on the floor Naruto and Sasuke lay shirtless (big surprise) beside each other. Gaara's heart was racing. Images of blood and screaming filled his eyes. _Why does this always happen? Why can't you leave me alone! Why does everyone want me to suffer?_ Gaara thought as he attempted to slow his breathing into a normal pace.

Lee opened his eyes and looked up at Gaara who, by now was sitting up.

"Gaara, what's wrong?" he asked as he yawned. His voice was gruff with sleep that refused to release the blow cut from it grasp, not that Lee was complaining, he had had a wonderful dream, with the whole night in shining armor thing for the fair lady (or Gaara) in waiting. Yes Lee had very corny dreams.

"My, my mother she…I saw…" Gaara shook his head. Lee sat up beside Gaara; Gaara noticed the bruise on Lee's cheek. _That wasn't there yesterday_.

"What happened?"

"You were fighting in your sleep." Lee answered as he grinned and rubbed his face carefully.

Shame filled Gaara, not only had he assaulted Lee during the day, he did it in his sleep too.

"I'm sorry." Gaara looked at the blankets. Lee could see that Gaara felt guilty about the bruise but there was nothing he could do about it now, besides it wasn't intentional.

"I calmed you down, all I did was hug you and you stopped." Lee yawned again finally pushing the last moments of sleep away.

As Lee stretched his green shirt from the previous day way lifted up slightly, exposing his toned stomach. Gaara felt a blush rush to his face; Lee smiled at the sight of Gaara blushing, which made the blush deepen. Gaara kept his eyes firmly on the rather bland and boring sheets of Sasuke's bed. Lee placed a hand under Gaara's chin and forced his head up causing him to hold his gaze. Lee's eyes were soft and his lips looked inviting.

Gaara felt his heart pick up as he looked into Lee's eyes. They weren't like his; his were full of sadness and pain. But in Lee's he saw happiness, as well as something which he was hiding, something worse then the fact he use to cut himself, it was hard to see what that thing was though. Gaara was brought back to the world outside of Lee's dark eyes as he noticed Lee had changed from smiling to smirking. Slowly Lee drew closer to the still blushing Gaara.

Lee began to shake as he drew closer to Gaara, and moved his hand from the underneath of his chin to the side of his cheek. Gaara placed his hand over Lee's. A tingle ran through Gaara's arm and then spread around his body causing him to catch his breath.

"Gaara I …" Lee became lost in Gaara's green eyes; Gaara looked so lost, it was clear he didn't know what he was doing, but he couldn't seem to find the urge to pull away form Lee.

The skin beneath his fingers was soft and warm from Gaara's non-stop blush. Lee suddenly became nervous and found that his mind had wondered to and from a very explicit part of his mind. Gaara saw Lee's face turn a slight pink.

"My hearts pounding." Gaara breathed holding his chest with his free hand, he pulled his eyes away from Lee's and he looked away but kept his head in place. Lee was still at a loss for words, Gaara looked back up at Lee and then moved slightly forwards and up towards his lips. Suddenly Naruto's mobile went off causing the two sleeping boy's to jolt awake, Naruto clutched for his phone with his eyes full of early morning haze.

Lee and Gaara pulled away from each other as Sasuke raised an eyebrow at them then fell back down onto the floor where he had slept. _Ok …no, this is starting to piss me off._ Lee's eye twitched.

"Neji, what is it? You never call me this early." Naruto rasped into the phone, as his voice hadn't been willing to leave his throat. Sasuke yawned and opened one eye to watch Naruto as he spoke. Gaara shifted uncomfortably on the bed and Lee swung his legs onto the floor and began fixing his hair, attempting to flatten the back of it.

Gaara ran his fingers through his and made it look less like he had just woken up.

"What?" Naruto's face was now full of concern. Obviously something bad had happened, Sasuke looked at Lee who was now frowning with questions and Gaara who had his expressionless mask up once again. "Don't worry Neji, I'll handle it." The phone hung up and Naruto threw on a shirt Sasuke did the same and stood up, he placed his hands in his pockets and walked over to where Naruto was trying to exit the room.

"Naruto what's going on?" Lee asked as he and Gaara stood.

Naruto sighed and turned around to face his friends as if he was telling them someone had died.

"Some freak with a painted face and a beanie has Hinata."

"What?" Lee and Sasuke asked in unison, Gaara tensed at the description.

"Freak with painted face and a beanie." Naruto repeated.

"Kankuro." Gaara frowned as he ran out of the room, the others fallowed in confusion.

It didn't take them long to get to the park; at the rate they were running it was no wonder why. What was Kankuro doing with Hinata? Gaara knew her form school, she was in his math's class and she was so quiet, which could only mean either Kankuro was seriously pissed off for no reason and taking it out on her or she did something to piss him off badly.

Gaara's mind was spinning with questions however his face was calm and as emotionless as ever even when running to try and stop his old brother from getting charged with assault. When they got to the park he saw Temari standing around with a group of kids in his year at school. _Of course half the kids from school are here._ He thought as he caught sight of his older brother on top of the jungle gym holding Hinata by the upper arm as she struggled to free herself while at the same time trying not to fall off the jungle gym.

Gaara sighed as he climbed up the jungle gym with no problem. Kankuro was not facing Gaara and therefore not expecting him to interfere.

"Let her go!" Neji called. Kankuro refused.

"Kankuro, what are you doing?" Gaara asked as he appeared behind him. Kankuro turned to see his little brother shock passed over his face briefly only to be replaced by anger weather it was anger towards him or towards Hinata he couldn't tell nor did he really care.

"She broke my puppet! So she's my knew one." He growled. _Oh god no! Not his puppet! Why his puppet? Hinata you could not have done anything worse to piss him off! _Gaara cringed inwardly but didn't let it show on his face or his body language. The last thing he needed to do was panic. He needed to stay calm and neutral in this situation.

"Kankuro let her go, I'm sure she didn't mean to break it." Gaara sighed, not really taking any form of threat to his last comment. Kankuro became more enraged at his brothers lack of care for his possessions.

Kankuro then took a cheap shot at Gaara.

"Mum left that for me! How would you feel if I broke your gourd?" Gaara twitched at the thought; his gourd was the most important thing to him, it was the only thing he had that no one could take away from it, it was his, his mother left it for him like she left Kankuro his puppet or Temari her giant fan

"Kankuro let me make myself clear, if you go near my gourd I will personally ensure the next twenty four hours of your life is spent in mindless agony as your skin is slowly peeled from your flesh doused with salt and frequently burnt with a welding torch until you beg for death to which I will respond with kicking you in the nuts so hard they will pop out your mouth. And then I will give you to Temari to play nurse with." Gaara kept his face blank and his voice even however menacing.

Kankuro faltered for a moment while picturing the threat his little brother was all too willing to go through with. The group of teenagers, who were watching this shook slightly in fear when Gaara's threat was voiced.

Hinata took this chance to try and get away only to be pulled back roughly by Kankuro who was even more pissed as his new play thing was attempting to escape him again, he tightened his grip on her causing her to cry out and in response to that Neji growled.

"Kankuro come down from the jungle gym and let the girl go, it wasn't intentional." Temari called attempting to pull the focus of getting Hinata away from him as the main priority. Kankuro glanced at her then shook his head.

"No. I am sick of both of you! Gaara suddenly claims to be gay and you encourage him!" Kankuro turned to Gaara and looked him in the eye, Gaara returned the stare with as much intensity as his brother threw at him.

Temari could see the surrounding groups of teens getting apprehensive of the situation and she knew this needed to end quickly before things got out of hand.

"Mum died for you. And this is how you repay her?" Temari looked in shock at Kankuro, as much as she had been expecting the worst she wasn't expecting that._ Kankuro why the hell would you bring that up?_ She screamed in her mind, unable to voice her question.

Gaara snapped and punched his brother in the face, Temari however had been expecting that, not that Gaara was violent often but after that comment she was counting down the seconds until Gaara lost his self-control. Hinata broke free from Kankuro. She jumped down to the ground just beside where Kankuro lay sprawled from the punch and ran to Neji.

Gaara jumped down to where Kankuro had fallen his hand was on his now swollen cheek still unable to comprehend that his little brother had punched him. Noticing Gaara's eyes on him he stood and looked at his little brother as if waking up from a confusing dream.

"You hit me." _Very perceptive Kankuro maybe you could tell me what sound a cow makes. _Temari thought bitterly as she watched the scene play out in front of her. Kankuro whipped some blood from his mouth. He then ran at Gaara with one object in mind, which was to make Gaara look like a fool in front of everyone here, he went for a punch; Gaara dodged and kneed him in the stomach.

Kankuro collapsed on the ground clutching his stomach and trying to choke down a breath.

"Don't you dare talk about her like that." Gaara turned away thoroughly disgusted by his brother's attempt to make him aggressive, but even more so at himself as he did just that. Images of past nightmares ran through his mind, and he began to question on weather that was true.

"Dad hates you." Kankuro coughed.

Gaara stopped. This was getting to the point of annoying, he didn't want this fight to go on any further, he already felt sick to his stomach about hitting Kankuro in the first place let alone hurting him a second time.

"Kankuro!" Temari gasped as if it was some sort of big secret hidden from him. However, now Gaara was well aware of the non-dispersing crowd, they were too interested to leave or they didn't know if they should or not. Lee, Naruto and Sasuke stood in front of Gaara a few feet away.

He didn't bother looking at them, he knew what he would see if he did.

"It's true, ask Temari, he tells her about it all the time." Kankuro looked around the crowed. Gaara looked at Temari, she looked away. He knew it was true, his father makes it a point to say it as much as possible when he's home from work, however he never thought his hatred ran that deep for his youngest son that he would discuss it with his eldest child.

"I am well aware of my fathers feelings towards me." Gaara didn't look at his siblings. As much as he knew every word out of his mouth was true and he had thought of it often actually saying it made it more real and even caused him slight pain saying it.

He didn't show any emotion on his face, which worried Lee; true he hardly ever showed emotion but something that harsh must have hurt in some way. Kankuro after not getting the reaction he was looking for went for another punch, the sound of flesh hitting flesh was heard and Gaara turned to see Temari had caught his fist.

"That's enough! We learnt to fight in school for a reason and this is not it. Do you both understand me! No more of this!" Temari had seen and heard enough of this to write a book on it, but this was personal family issues and they didn't need the whole damn town knowing about them, something could slip form their mouths weather intentional or not, which could get them in even more trouble if their father caught wind of this fight in public.

Gaara turned and started walking again like Temari he had had enough of this and if Kankuro wished they could resume this in a more privet manor.

"Mum hated you too Gaara." Kankuro called Temari froze and Kankuro passed her to look at Gaara's face when he turned around.

Gaara stopped and in a second he had his brother by the throat. Temari was screaming at him to stop. Kankuro's gasping and struggling for breath filled the air fallowed shortly by Temari's voice becoming more and more frantic and firm about Gaara letting their idiot of a middle sibling go and breathe again. Gaara narrowed his eyes as he brought his brother face to face with him.

"I can't change who I am Kankuro, but I sure as hell wish I could change who you are." Gaara let him fall and turned away.

Lee joined Gaara, as did the others. He began to walk away from his annoyance of a brother. Suddenly he stopped as a thought occurred to him. With out looking back he spoke.

"Kankuro if you so much as look at any of my friends I will break more then your doll." Kankuro's eye twitched in anger however his eyes flashed a devious glint. Temari knew where this was headed and shook her head at Kankuro, begging him not to do what she knew he would. _Kankuro don't, please you can't be that heartless and cruel can you? _Temari questioned. Fear held her for a moment and everything seemed to go in slow motion. (A/N: Oh my god I made Temari into Sakura…. I AM SO SORRY!)

"Have you told them about your last friend?" Kankuro stood up and Temari stood in shock. _Apparently you are that heartless and cruel…_

"Kankuro stop it he doesn't need this. It's not fair!" Temari yelled at Kankuro as she caught him by the arm. Kankuro turned to face her; both had the look of determination on their face, only Temari wasn't temporarily insane.

Temari knew that Kankuro would regret every word he said here and she wanted to make sure that there wasn't much to regret by not allowing this fight to continue any further.

"It was unfair that he took away our mother!" Kankuro pushed her to the ground looking over her in spite at trying to help Gaara, as if he had just murdered someone n front of them. Temari hit the ground with a thud and the crowd around the three siblings voiced their objections.

"Don't!" Temari cried in desperation and warning.

Gaara had stopped at the word 'friend' and had since then begun to shake; it was obvious he was scared, which is something neither Kankuro or Temari had seen since he was seven, it had been ten years since the incident Kankuro was referring to and Gaara obviously still had issues regarding it, none the less all eyes were on Kankuro waiting to see the next cheap shot he would throw at him.

"You remember Gaara, your closest friend what was his name?" Kankuro sneered at Temari's attempts of silencing him. He turned his attention back to his little brother.

"No." Gaara whispered, wishing to disappear at that moment.

He couldn't believe his brother would go that deep into Gaara's past, his father and mother was one thing but to bring that up was just disgusting. He felt sick to his stomach. A wave of confusion past through everyone except Temari, Lee, Naruto and Sasuke who only wanted this to end and now.

"Suna, that was it, the seven year old who got a little too close to you." Kankuro then faked enthusiasm. He raised an eyebrow waiting for Gaara to respond. However the red head was already willing to give up this fight to his older brother to stop this conversation. He turned to face his brother still not looking at him, his eyes stayed on the floor.

"Kankuro please…" Gaara's voice wavered.

"And what happened to him when he got too close to you Gaara?" Kankuro heard the pain in his brother's voice but at this point he plainly didn't care.

He didn't care about the fight; he just wanted to take out his grief and anger on the person that, to his way of thinking had caused him the pain in the first place.

"Don't, Kankuro please don't!" He looked at him now, clearly begging and with pleading eyes. Anything was better then this, he didn't care if he was questioned about anything if this stopped there, but much to his dismay Kankuro had no intention of stopping until he either had completely broken Gaara or caused him enough pain to feel better about himself.

"He was found dead!" Gaara felt the hot trail of a tear role down his face.

His eyes widened at his brother, his hands clenched into fists and he bowed his head so that his red hair hid his eyes. He didn't look at anyone, not even Lee. Temari felt sick, she had never seen Gaara cry, not ever he always hid everything and now he was crying and in the most public place in the city.

"That…wasn't…my fault" Gaara stammered.

"You killed him Gaara! The one person who cared and you killed him." Kankuro continued.

Lee suddenly flashed back to the pervious night_. I got this tattoo because when I was seven I realized that I was alone, no one cared about me. This is a constant reminder of that!_ That was what he had said and now he suddenly understood what it was a reminder of. Lee's eyes widened and he looked at Naruto and Sasuke. They returned his look with questioning eyes.

"No I didn't do anything!" Gaara protested as he grabbed his head and fell to his knees.

This couldn't be happening. Not now. He had worked so hard to try and forget his past, and now it was out there for all of the town and his new school to know about.

"Gaara we know you did." Kankuro's voice was now sickeningly calm.

"No!" Gaara shook his head.

"He was in your room."

"I didn't." tears now blurred his vision and he would have given anything to be away from everyone there. He couldn't stand it, their eyes, their words and the scorn he would now receive.

"There was blood everywhere Gaara!" Kankuro finished. Gaara remained on the ground with tears falling. He felt vomit crawl up his throat. Nothing could make this worse.

He played the day over in his head.

_Two little boys sat in the bedroom drawing, it was simple but they were seven and it was raining outside, besides they were drawing pictures for each other. When the red head was done he handed it over to the little brunette and waited for his. After some time the brunette held out the paper and eagerly the red head grabbed it. Suddenly the brunette went pale and looked at his hand, where a thin gap in the skin appeared and red liquid began to flow like a waterfall. Then the brunette was on the floor convulsing. The red head let out a cry as he saw his friend shudder and then lay perfectly still. _

Temari's voice broke through Gaara's memory. 

"Kankuro that's enough! You know what happened to Suna was unfortunate but it wasn't Gaara's fault! The boy was a hemophiliac! He got a paper cut and was gone before Gaara could tell anyone. He was seven for Christ sake!" Temari walked over to Gaara and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Gaara didn't know what was going on anymore the only thing he knew was the he held no desire to stay any longer now that his whole year level knew that part of his life. He stood and ran off. His brother had betrayed him; his sister had done nothing to prevent it and now his friends would want nothing to do with him and Lee probably hated him.

Many suicidal thoughts ran through his mind as he ran the very sunny day. Ironic that such a perfect summer day could hold such guilt, pain and shame. Gaara made his way to the graveyard, there was two graves here he needed to see, one he hadn't seen since he was seven, and one he hadn't seen at all.

Still crying he stopped in front of the first grave he had come to visit. Although he wasn't the type to believe in ghosts he spoke out loud trying to make sense of hit thoughts.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know what to do. It was just a paper cut, a small one then you were in a pool of blood, I couldn't… why didn't it stop? Why didn't you stop bleeding? I didn't…all I… I'm sorry." Gaara fell to his knees again crying this.

He felt violently ill again and wished for something to stop this, to just take it away. But nothing would and he was left sitting alone in front of a seven years olds grave in his thoughts. The sound of hurried footsteps echoed through the barren tomb filled garden, they slowed and soon stopped. He didn't know or care who had fallowed him; he didn't plan to be around much longer to find out.

But once again he found himself being ignorant of his mental commands and he remained seated on his knees looking and the grave, almost hoping for an answer that he knew already and knew he wouldn't get it here. Soon he felt someone sit beside him.

"Gaara, it wasn't your fault. He was sick." Lee put a hand on the red heads shoulder. Gaara shook his head. No this was his fault, he knew it was, it was always his fault. Kankuro was right; he had killed him, and their mother. No one was safe in his company.

"I'm the one who gave him the cut, I snatched the paper from his hands." Tears continued to cascade down his face, causing his eyeliner to run his voice was nothing more then a whisper that only caused him to cry even harder.

After admitting this he knew that Lee and those who were still on the path behind him would turn away from him like everyone else did.

"You didn't know." Sasuke joined them. Gaara looked around and saw Hinata, Neji and more people he had seen in school. Why were they here, they weren't ridiculing him about his past, they didn't even look angry or confused, they looked worried and concerned.

This Gaara couldn't understand. People don't like people like him, he took away the only child of an elderly couple and the one person who seemed to truly care about him.

"We all care for you Gaara." Lee smiled. Again Gaara looked around unable to understand what was going on, people were not avoiding him and he did not want them too. He was numb, he wanted his comfort he wanted warmth, damn it he wanted his gourd

"Where's Naruto?" he asked noticing the blonde's absence. Sasuke looked over to where he stood in front of two gravestones.

A sudden wave of sadness fell on Gaara as he noticed what the blond was doing and who's grave lay next to his parents. Slowly he stood brushing past everyone, no one fallowed him as he walked just past Naruto, stopping at his mother's grave.

"Mum." He breathed as he looked down at it, not quite knowing what to do, he could feel everyone looking at him as he sat down in front of the grave and took a shaky breath.

Never had he been to his mother's grave, when his family went he would either sit in the car or spend the time at Suna's grave asking the same questions and repeating the same phrase over and over. Now he was facing the grave of a women he had never met, yet had such a strong emotional attachment that he dreamt of her crying and screaming and he didn't know why.

He had never even seen her, not a picture. He only knew the women in his dreams was because that's what his siblings addressed her as in his sleep. He lifted his hand to his mothers name and traced it with his fingers. He sighed as he stood and whipped the tears away, but still looking at the grave.

Finally he tore his eyes and looked to the massive group of people who were waiting for him. He took notice of his sibling's absence and sighed as he looked at the grave again.

He turned away and walked back to Lee.

"I want my gourd." He sounded very much like a child asking this. Lee smiled and waved everyone off except Naruto and Sasuke.

The four walked to Gaara's house. It didn't make sense to Lee, Gaara had not provoked his brother and yet he attempted to basically destroy his brother in more ways then one in front of everyone. Gaara's mind wouldn't stop going back to how many people had fallowed him; it still didn't make any sense.

Plus his dreams, why his mother was always crying and why did he sleep when Lee was around, why did he care about Lee? Or the other two who were walking with him why… and now because of his minds constant thinking over these he was now walking around with a headache. _Great, just bloody perfect, now I also need to get some panadol…whoop Dee friggen doo…_ he thought bitterly as he brought his hands up and began rubbing his temples.

Naruto sighed as they walked the streets, he was worried about Gaara, after he had run off the group of teens all had given Kankuro a piece of their minds. Still, Gaara had been told that for so long that he actually believed it. He felt Sasuke slip his hand into his. Naruto looked up from the ground to deep eyes of his boyfriend. Sasuke looked at Naruto with a question on his face, Naruto just squeezed his hand and gave a small smile.

Both boys had a bad feeling about something, neither knew what it was but it was bad. Gaara's house came in to view as they walked up the street and turned into the driveway. He hesitated at the door; he didn't want to face his siblings. Not after they had treated him like that not two hours ago. Slowly Gaara pulled the door open and stepped inside, fallowed closely by the three boys. Temari was very shocked to see Gaara home so soon, which made her repeat the action of dropping her bowl of ice cream all over the floor. She looked at Gaara with sorrow filled eyes, but she only received a blank emotionless stare back. The red head then turned and walked up the stairs to his room, the others stayed down with Temari and Kankuro who Gaara either didn't see or was ignoring him.

There was the sound of running water from upstairs and then silence, then the sound of something heavy being dragged out and lifted. Gaara then walked downstairs to the group with his sand colored gourd, which covered his entire back and could be seen over his shoulder. He had also changed his clothes to a new pair of black skinnies and a new shirt under his fishnet, his hair was fixed and he had also fixed his eyeliner with a waterproof brand he borrowed from Temari.

As soon as Gaara came out of his room with his gourd on his back her jaw dropped.

"I haven't seen you wear that since you were twelve." She commented. The gourd covered all of his back, and must have been very heavy but he somehow found it comforting. Gaara walked past her to the medicine cabinet and took out two tablets then poured himself some water and swallowed them. After the gourd was in Gaara's possession they left and went for breakfast. A rather late one seeing as it was only eleven but still people have to eat.

Naruto and Sasuke started making out while Gaara didn't seem to be in the same world as the others. Lee kicked Naruto in the shin, causing the boy to yelp in surprise and his boyfriend to glare at him. Lee began to snicker and Sasuke gave a smirk. Naruto grumbled as he rubbed his shin from where Lee had kicked him. Their attention turned to Gaara, as he seemed very interested in the table just in front of him.

"So Gaara, is there any reason you and your siblings know how to fight like that?" Lee asked.

Gaara sighed and looked up from the brown wooden table, which held his water, he hadn't wanted anything to eat. He really didn't want to explain why he and his siblings had taken martial arts as an elective in his old school. But at this point he couldn't find it in him to hide from them anymore. They already knew his past courtesy of Kankuro.

But still he shouldn't tell them, something could happen to them if they knew. He saw the expecting faces of his friends looking at him, waiting for him to explain himself.

"It's different for all of us." He sighed giving up to trying to hide it anymore, if they wanted to know, he was going to tell them. "Temari uses it as a stress release, Kankuro tries gain strength threw it and I …" he paused thinking of a way to word it with out it sounding as bad as it was. "I did it so I could defend myself." Gaara looked into his drink, that hadn't come out, as he wanted it to. No doubt Naruto picked it up immediately and so had Sasuke.

Lee had missed the way the words sounded coming out of the smaller boys mouth.

"Defend yourself from who?" Naruto asked. Lee suddenly snapped to what Gaara had meant when he had said that and was now watching him as was Sasuke and Naruto. Gaara slowly looked up, he looked like a five year old who had just broken a vase.

The truth was hard but admitting it was worse, and the last thing he needed was someone trying to help him in that situation. It never ended well.

"From my father." His voice was barely audible. Sasuke, Naruto and Lee widened their eyes at Gaara. _His father hit him? That son of a bitch! That is so horrid; oh I am going to… just … argh!_ Lee thought as Gaara turned his eyes back to his drink.

The image of Gaara getting hit was enough to make Lee sick, in fact it did. He stood ran into the bathroom, soon the sound of him heaving filled the small café they sat in. Sasuke sighed and shook his head as he went to the vomiting boy. Naruto just sat and looked at Gaara. He frowned when he saw Gaara had started scratching at his wrists. Naruto cleared his throat, which caused Gaara to see that with his constant scratching he had caused his wrists to bleed again.

Pain crossed his face as he grabbed some napkins and pressed them against his now bleeding wrist. _Shit! I didn't even know I was doing that and now they're bleeding again! Crap, crap, crap! This isn't good, now Sasuke and Lee are going to think I meant to do it and…Crap!_ Naruto gave him a careful smile to calm him down a bit. I didn't work. Soon Sasuke came back out with Lee who looked calmer now.

Sasuke caught sight of the now stained red napkin and raised an eyebrow; Naruto shook his head and dragged Sasuke onto his lap, explaining what had happened. Sasuke then turned to Gaara. 

"Does he still…?"

"No, not as often as he use to." Gaara cut him off a little to fast for his liking but it was true. His father was constantly on business trips now, and he wasn't home as much to beat him. So in a way it wasn't a lie. It may not be the truth, but it wasn't a lie.

He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, he pulled it out and looked at the person calling in question. He didn't recognize the number but nonetheless he answered it.

"Hello?"

"Gaara!"

"Ino…" Gaara frowned a bit. She was a girl at his old school that he could slightly tolerate.

"Where are you?"

"Having coffee…why?"

"You're having coffee? Why are you having coffee?"

"Why not? Ino… why are you calling me?"

"HELLO! Kiba's birthday? Movies! Sound familiar?" Ino screamed down the phone. Gaara flinched at the loud noise.

His heart suddenly skipped a beat as he realized the day. True Gaara didn't have any friends at his old school, but Ino had forced Gaara to keep in contact. As much as everyone feared or ignored him, he was good protection from other people, though he never tried to protect anyone.

All the same he had promised Ino and Kiba he would go to his party before he left school. And he kept his promises.

"Is that today?"

"Yes Gaara yes it is!"

"Look Ino, I'm spending the day with my friends form school…"

"No you look Gaara, you promised Kiba that you would see him on his birthday. Now you are going to stick to your word or I am going to make you your choice." Gaara sighed as Ino threatened him. It wouldn't work, but he didn't want to tell her that.

"Alright fine! God, I will make and appearance, bring him to the café and I will see him."

Ino squealed in joy as she hung up the phone.

Gaara put the phone back in his pocket and then let his head fall into his arms on the table. _This is going to kill me._ Lee and the others looked at him confused at what had just happened. Gaara stayed like that for what seemed like hours when in reality it was more like five minutes.

Lee was about to speak when a voice cut in.

"Gaara?" the red head looked up seeing the group from his old school looking at him as if he was a knew person. Then it clicked, the make up, the clothes and the hair, they weren't sure if it was Gaara or not. Gaara stood and walked over to the group, they all looked at him unable to believe it was him.

However, when Kiba lifted his hand to Gaara's hair, Gaara flinched noticeably and the group smiled. Gaara turned at the sound of Sasuke's voice. Ino had pushed Naruto off his chair and was now attempting to flirt with him. Naruto was screaming abuse and Lee was stifling a laugh. Gaara rolled his eyes and turned back to Kiba who he was talking to.

After three minutes the group got bored and decided they would be late for the movies if they didn't leave. Ino however refused to go with out her new love interest. Gaara sighed and walked past her.

"He's gay Ino." And with that she leapt towards her friends who were waiting outside. Gaara gave them a nod and turned back to the three boys who were now having their own conversation.

Gaara didn't pay much attention. He was too busy attempting to fight the urge to do something to injure his brother.

Gaara found himself enjoying this friendship, well not enjoying it more like tolerating it with adoration; in any case he didn't want it or this weekend to end. After they ate the four decided to go to the creek. Gaara had never been so he was looking forwards to the trip.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Gaara sat on the bank of the creek watching the three shirtless boys swim around in a creek. Naruto soon joined him.

"Don't feel like swimming?" he asked.

"It seems…how can you have so much fun in water?" Gaara asked still watching the shirtless Rock Lee, his well-sculpted torso glistened in the sun as the rays reflected off the water.

"It's easy to have fun in the water with friends." Naruto smiled.

"How? You've all gotten your jeans wet because you didn't bring swim suits." Gaara looked up from the water.

His gourd sat beside him along with everyone's phones and shirts, Gaara's phone sat there too however his shirt was still on, his shoes and socks sat with the rest of boy's shoes.

"I'll show you." Naruto smiled as he pulled Gaara's shirt off and pushed him into the creek. Lee and Sasuke turned to see Gaara pop out of the water and glare at Naruto who was now swimming past him. _I am so glad I put waterproof eyeliner on after the park _he thought.

"I still fail to see the fun in this." Gaara complained as he joined the others. Suddenly Lee splashed him, Gaara looked up at Lee confused, then pushed his head under the water, when Lee resurfaced he tackled Gaara under the water.

Underwater was so different, peaceful, shimmering and he just happened to be floating in it with Lee. When Lee and Gaara came up for air they were side by side. Their hands hit each other underwater Lee drew his away; Gaara saw this and took Lee's hand in his. Lee looked at Gaara then turned away to hide his blush. Gaara smirked and dragged him underwater again.

Lee was gliding at arms length above Gaara who was facing him. With the shimmering surface behind him Lee somehow made him more attractive. Gaara was still holding his hand; Lee couldn't get over how peaceful he looked. The two once again were forced to come up for air.

"You know Gaara, for some reason you're at the top of my list of things and people I care about." Lee told him after Naruto and Sasuke were out of earshot.

"I don't see why. My life is pointless."

Gaara climbed out Lee fallowed and caught him on the bank.

"Gaara stop! Look your life has been hard. I'm not saying it wasn't." Gaara stopped and turned to face Lee, but made no attempt to stop him.

"But your life is not pointless. It's important." Lee looked at his feet nervous.

"My mother is dead, my father and siblings hate me and I'm always alone. Yea I must be so important to so many people." Gaara turned away.

"Your important to me." Lee frowned. Gaara shook his head.

"Why would I be important to you?" Gaara asked.

"I…Gaara…I…" Gaara began walking away again. _Oh to hell with this. I'll show him!_ Lee thought. He grabbed Gaara's hand, but Gaara didn't want to have any contact with him and found himself falling to the ground.

Lee was pulled down with him and found himself on top of Gaara, his hand, which had Gaara's wrist, had landed above his head, Lee used the other hand to keep himself up. Gaara turned red again. Lee smirked at the sight.

"So, that blush goes all the way down?" Lee raised an eyebrow as his eyes slowly gazed over Gaara's shirtless chest.

There faces were only inches apart and Lee had no intention to be interrupted again.

"Lee, I feel…my heart is…" Gaara moved his free hand to his chest then to where Lee's heart was. "Yours is doing it too." He whispered as he looked up at Lee.

"I told you. Your important to me." Lee breathed as he took the hand on his chest in his free hand. Gaara could feel Lee's hands shake in his.

"Lee…your hands…"

"Sorry I'm just nervous." Lee smiled. Gaara's breathing became shallow.

"Me…me too…" Gaara bit his lower lip. Lee frowned at that Gaara had perfect lips.

"Don't bite your lip."

"I always do." Gaara lowered his voice.

"Well, we'll just have to break that habit, wont we." Lee moved closer, Gaara could feel his breath.

"How would you do that?" Gaara asked blushing further.

"By keeping your mouth…busy." The last word was a whisper as Lee finally closed the gap between their lips.

Gaara widened his eyes, unable to respond, it was a shock to him, but his eyes closed and he let his body respond for him, he lost his grip on reality. Somehow his hands were released he rapped his arms around Lee's neck trying to gain more access to Lee. Lee rolled over onto his back dragging Gaara on top of him; Lee placed his arms around Gaara's waist. Lee opened his mouth allowing the kiss to become more passionate. Gaara did the same, the kiss was amazing for Lee it felt like winning one thousand races in a row, and for Gaara it felt as if for once in his life he was safe and cared for.

When the kiss was finally broken, Gaara rolled off lee and lay on his side looking at him, Lee copied the action.

"I tried to tell you." Lee smiled. Gaara who was still dazed at the kiss just closed his eyes and relaxed. Soon Naruto and Sasuke joined them, they had watched the kiss from the water and were now engaged in a fight for dominance as they mimicked Lee and Gaara. Soon Lee and Gaara were kissing again. This one was more intense and Gaara got carried away and bit Lee's lip.

Lee pulled away, Gaara looked away.

"Sorry."

"Do it again." Lee looked at Gaara sternly. Gaara complied and bit down on his lip again invoking a moan from Lee. Lee became more excited and moved his kiss down Gaara's neck, a moan escaped his lips. Lee took a chance and bit Gaara's neck, Lee got the reaction he wanted, and Gaara's eyes snapped open. A gasp of pain/pleasure came out as he threw his head back. Lee then continued to nipping and kissing Gaara's neck. Gaara narrowed his eyes and straddled him. Lee's eyes fallowed Gaara's movements. Gaara pinned Lee's arms above his head, he bit Lee's lip but did not indulge in the kiss both of them wanted so badly.

No instead he hovered his lips just out of reach.

"Why did you do that?" Gaara asked, his lips grazing Lee's on every word. It was obvious that Lee wanted the kiss.

"I…I liked that that I could make you moan and gasp." Lee looked away, Gaara saw this embarrassed him, he glanced over at Naruto and Sasuke, and of course they were in their own world.

Gaara whispered in his ear.

"I liked it too." Lee looked up at Gaara. Lee again kissed along Gaara's neck, getting the same response each and every time. Lee's lips left Gaara's neck.

"Gaara do you want to do something tomorrow?" then he went back to biting and kissing his neck.

"I…Ye…Will you stop?" he frowned as he broke away. " I can't think straight when you do that." Gaara blushed. Lee smirked.

"When I do this?" Lee asked as he bit very hard on Gaara's neck.

Gaara moaned and threw his head back; Lee wrapped his arms around Gaara's waist.

"Yes. That." Gaara panted. Lee and Gaara both knew that he was completely submissive when Lee did that.

"Gaara, will you be my boyfriend?" Lee asked as they came back to earth.

"Yes" Gaara smiled. Naruto and Sasuke cooed in unison drawing attention to themselves. Gaara and Lee looked at them with an annoyed look.

The day was half over and the group had nothing to do. As the four boys walked around the city, Gaara's phone went off.

"Hello?"

"Gaara!"

"Temari? What's wrong?"

"Dads home and he is pissed off!" Gaara's heart sank and it showed on his face.

"I … what?"

"Kankuro told him about the fight. Gaara you better get here and fast, before he breaks your arm again!" the phone cut off then. Gaara looked down at his arm.

"Gaara?" Lee called. Gaara looked up into the faces of his friends.

"I have to go. I'll see you at school." He called as he ran off.

Gaara took a breath and walked into the house. He could hear his father's breath.

"So you're a big boy huh? Like to fight tough guy? Well come on." Gaara stood still not lifting his eyes. The impact caused his to fall and hit his head against the table, his father then began kicking and punching him.

Gaara felt pain in his ribs but he knew his head was bleeding as the blood was now sliding down his face. Temari appeared begging her father to stop. He then turned and pushed her against the wall, Gaara despite his injured ribs and head stood to confront his father.

"Don't touch her!" Gaara snapped. His father turned to face him; Temari broke free of his grip and ran upstairs. The next thing he knew, he was against the wall, his father began twisting his arm, waiting to hear that sweat sickening snap.

Gaara refused to cry out while his father continued to twist his arm. His blood loss was now begging to affect his vision. Gaara lifted his knee into his father's stomach. His father dropped him and Gaara began to cough up blood he was vaguely aware of his father lashing out at him again, but gave up and faded into the familiar and welcoming darkness of sweet bliss.

He woke up in the hospital. He sighed; Lee wasn't going to like this.

"Hey Lee relax. He's allowed one day to himself right? Why are you so worried? He said he'd see you in school so chill." Naruto took Lee's mobile off him.

"I just worry. He looked scared yesterday."

"Lee trust me, he's fine. Ok?" Sasuke asked. Lee sighed and nodded, he couldn't help worrying about him, and it was kind of annoying really.

Gaara was heavily sedated all of Saturday night and Sunday. He had school on Monday so he needed rest, only that rest meant sleep and an unwanted conversation with his subconscious.

'You know Lee is only toying with you'

"I'm not listening to you."

'_Fine, I won't talk about your boyfriend, lets talk about Suna.'_

"No."

'Oh right, your over that. How about your dad?'

"You don't know what you're talking about."

'_Well let's see the damage this time.'_

"Leave me alone."

'Ok, so you wont need a cast for your arm it just a bad sprain so it will be in a bandage, you'll also have your head in a bandage, you'll be on crutches for a week because of your ribs. Nothing major.'

"Good now go away."

'Nope, this is fun.'

"I wonder if I should tell the others, though they will figure it out the second they see me."

'What? NO! Not only will you get hurt more so then you are now, but Temari and Kankuro too! And you try so hard to protect them!'

"Why should I listen to you?"

'If you tell your friends then he will hurt them too.'

The voice had a point.

"God I hate you."

'More then your fan girls at school?'

"Yes."

'What about the fan boys?'

"Will you leave me alone!"

'Until next time Gaara.'

The voice was gone; Gaara was left alone in the darkness. Soon he would wake up and then he would go to school. School, what was he going to do? There was nothing he could do; he couldn't lie… but the truth? NO, he didn't want to think about it. Lee, he would worry.

"Oh I'm fucked!"


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

A blond girl came racing up to Lee, Naruto and Sasuke as they entered the school.

"Did you hear? Gaara is on crutches!" the four boys looked at each other and took off in the direction of Gaara's locker. Lee froze when Gaara came into view, his foot wasn't touching the ground (a sprained ankle as well!), his arm was bandaged as was his head, only covering the width of his forehead, his face had a band aid on it as well as some bruises.

Through his fishnet shirt you could plainly see bandages wrapping around is torso and one shoulder (he wasn't wearing a shirt under the fishnet). He eyeliner was perfect.

"Oh my god Gaara! How…what?" Lee stammered.

"I lost my footing and fell off the roof." Gaara didn't look any of them in the eye, he hated lying and he didn't want them to see his pain anyway.

"Gaara, we know your lying. And look you have to tell us sometime." Sasuke frowned not buying the story for a second.

Gaara attempted to hobble off but in his haste he fumbled with the crutch and fell. Lee tried to help him up but the red head refused to seem vulnerable and struggled to his feet. As he stood his ribs, or the pain in them caused him to clutch at them and groan in discomfort.

"Please, just leave me alone today." Gaara walked away. Lee frowned; Gaara wasn't heading to his class.

Gaara limped past a number of shops before he stopped and leant against a wall. _Good god this day could not get any worse and it's not even twelve yet._ A shadow fell over his face. Itachi stood in front of him._ And once again I am proven wrong._

"I have an idea Gaara." He had a cold smile on his face.

It reminded him of the twisted grin his father gave him when he broke his arm. The same twang of fear ran through Gaara, only for a moment as he was pulled back to the purple haired teen obviously wanted to share his idea with someone, however Gaara was in no mood.

"I don't care." He sighed as he started to limp away; Itachi took hold of Gaara's shoulders and pulled him back. Swiftly Itachi sank his teeth into Gaara's neck. Gaara gasped, eyes wide as a mix of pain and pleasure ran through his veins. He had the same response as when Lee did it.

Gaara was frozen, Itachi bit harder then Lee and Gaara was ashamed of his body's reaction. _What the hell? Why did I react to that jerk? What going on with me?_ He was pushed against the wall; he caught his breath as his back connected with the wall. The older boy stood over him. Itachi smirked as Gaara glared up at him.

"You liked it didn't you."

"No." Gaara whispered.

He refused to believe that he would like anything given buy Itachi.

"Oh, because a little bird told me you did." As Itachi moved closer, Gaara's face had the slightest blush rushing up.

"How about we go back to my place?" Itachi asked. Gaara pushed him away; he had had enough of this and did not intend on staying any longer he then opened his mouth to say no. Itachi bit into his neck again only harder this time. Gaara's words were caught in his throat, his legs gave way and he slid down against the wall.

His body wasn't responding to anything anymore, nothing but the pleasure and the desire for more. Gaara's breathing was elevated and he could feel his heart beat. This was not good and he knew it. Slowly he looked up at Itachi. Itachi still had the grin on his face, which sent a shiver down the red heads spine.

When Sasuke, Naruto and Lee walked into Sasuke's house for their study day, Itachi passed them. His hair was unkempt and he looked rather rushed as he exited the room. He almost knocked Naruto over but he didn't seem to really care. As he passed them he called over his shoulder.

"Don't go in my room."

"Never do!" the door slammed as an answer, Sasuke rolled his eyes and led the two boys past Itachi's room and into his.

It was true, the only time Sasuke went in his brother's room was to get him for food or to return something and on both cases he was already in his room and stood at the door. Naruto found himself drawing pictures of his English teacher being eaten by crocodiles, being crushed by a piano, being struck by lightning, falling out of an airplane with out a Para shoot, things of that nature.

He was very proud of his work and ignored Lee and Sasuke when the told him that there English teacher would not accept it as his homework. Lee's mind was constantly on Gaara, he really was worried about him, something had happened and the three had decided that his father had something to do with it, which only made Lee want to vomit again. The afternoon pressed on and the three teens found little to do and little motivation to do it with.

Itachi was still out, and Sasuke honestly didn't care where he was as long as he wasn't in jail he was fine. After some time the group got bored and decided to just laze around.

"So what do you…" Naruto stopped and frowned.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked.

"I hear something." The blond replied. Lee stood up and listened, it was the sound of ragged breathing, like something from a horror movie, only it wasn't the menacing type, it sounded more like someone gasping to breath.

The boys stood and listened hard trying to find the source. Slowly and quietly they made their way through the small house stopping in every room listening carefully. Soon the source of the noise became apparent; it was coming from Itachi's room. The three pushed open the door of Itachi's room. It was dark and smelt of sweat and blood. Each boy scanned the darkness trying to find the noise. Suddenly a shape caught their attention.

There curled up in a ball, in the corner was Gaara. His fishnet shirt and chest bandages had been removed, exposing his slashed torso probably given to him by his father, his neck had dried blood on either side of it, which had escaped from two new wounds on each side. He sat with his legs drawn to his chest and his head cradled in his arms; his body shook as his sobbing caused his breath to tremble.

Lee walked further in to the room with Sasuke and Naruto close behind; slowly he approached the quivering teen.

"Gaara?" Lee called as he bent over his boyfriend. Gaara didn't look up, almost as if he hadn't heard him. Lee placed his hand on his arm but Gaara, let out a cry and attempted to shrink further into the wall as his body shuddered deeply.

Lee looked at his friends for help, not really knowing what to do in a situation like this. They nodded.

"Gaara its ok." Sasuke and Naruto moved closer to the two boys on the ground. Slowly Gaara lifted his head out of his arms afraid of what he might see. He almost put it back down without looking at the person in front of him. Still shaking he brought his eyes up from the floor to see the concerned eyes of his boyfriend staring back.

His eyes were red and his cheeks were tearstained. Nothing could have been a sadder sight.

"L…Lee?" he was obviously terrified, his voice was a whisper like he was trying to hide it from himself. Lee could tell he had been crying which made his heart jerk. Once again Lee reached out to touch him only to have Gaara widen his eyes in fear and cry out.

Lee retracted his hand and kept both of them in plain view for Gaara too see. Sasuke felt sick seeing the red head like this.

"What did he do to you?" Naruto asked drawing Gaara's eyes away from Lee and up onto himself and Sasuke. Neither boy had ever seen anyone in his or her life so broken within the span of a day.

"Nothing he didn't want." Itachi answered as he walked past them and pulled Gaara to his feet.

Gaara shook at his hands, and looked away from him, tears forming again and his voice sounded in fear and disgust. Itachi clearly enjoyed the sight as his smirk grew at the broken boy.

"Let go of him!" Lee demanded, was pissed off not only was this probably illegal, but Gaara was his boyfriend and if anyone tried to hurt him they would pay, he would make sure of it no matter what.

"No. We haven't even past foreplay yet, and besides Gaara wants to stay with me. Don't you Gaara?" Itachi sneered at Lee as he turned his attention to the boy in his grasp waiting for his reply.

"N…"Gaara caught his breath Itachi licked the blood on his neck and pushed his tongue in or just over the wounds.

Gaara involuntary blushed and looked away with tears filling his eyes. He couldn't answer his body wasn't listening to him. He couldn't look at Lee, he was ashamed of himself, he had aloud this sick pervert touch him and he couldn't find the strength to fight back. He never did, he only ever protected his family, and not himself, he didn't matter.

"Gaara!" Lee glared at Itachi, Naruto and Sasuke did the same, they were all in a predicament, if they moved Itachi could easily hurt Gaara even more so then he already was.

It made Lee shake with fury and his stomach turn. This was just wrong.

"Please…st…" Gaara attempted to voice his objection but gasped as Itachi bit at his injured body causing new wounds or old ones to bleed. Gaara was to weak to fight and just gave into the urge to moan, it made him feel sick but he couldn't repress it anymore.

Itachi smirked and pushed Gaara on the bed then climbed on top of him not really caring if the other three were there or not. Gaara was panting as tears silently slid down his face as he could foresee how this was going to end, his head was turned away from Itachi facing Lee but his eyes seemed distant and unfocused. Lee couldn't take this anymore, it was too much, and swiftly he moved to the bed and took hold of the older boy by the hair and back and ripped him off Gaara.

Itachi, caught off guard found himself flung against the wall and the floor.

"Stay the fuck away from him!" Lee held Itachi's hateful gaze. Lee then turned and helped Gaara who still flinched at contact into Sasuke's room. In the light his neck looked worse Lee began to clean and dress the wounds.

Still crying Gaara aloud the boy to help. He didn't know what was going through Lee's head although he had a pretty good idea that it was anger and it was directed at him. Silence held each boy and Itachi hadn't left his room since they escorted Gaara out.

"Are you ok?" he asked once he finished. His voice sounded angry filled and worried at the same time.

The red head hesitated for a moment. He didn't know how to act, or speak after something like that. Soon it became too much to bare and Gaara jumped into an embrace not caring at that moment if Lee hated him. He didn't say anything he just let the tears fall as he clung to Lee.

Lee didn't place his arms around Gaara, which made the red head panic slightly.

"Gaara its ok, I'm not mad at you." Lee sadly smiled as he brought Gaara's face away from his chest where he had found refuge and carefully gently kissed him on the lips. Gaara was confused but couldn't think of anything other then the comfort he was being given by Lee, softly he kissed back.

"Oh my god Gaara!" Temari ran into the room.

Gaara broke the soft kiss as his siblings rushed into the room and right up to him with the same look Lee and the others had given him. Temari was frantic and jumped through emotions where as Kankuro just held one, concern. Gaara knew what was going to happen next, he could read his siblings like a book.

Nothing they did surprised him anymore.

"You shouldn't have left school! I told you to wait and I would come and get you when dad had left for his flight!" Temari frowned as she sat next to him and fussed over Gaara making sure everything was bandaged and that nothing was broken. Kankuro just looked at him.

It made Gaara uneasy being watched.

"Why is Gaara the only one of you three who gets hurt?" Sasuke asked, he had called Temari in the first place and was determined to get to the bottom of this whole mess called Gaara's family.

"He protects us." Kankuro answered and turned to his little brother with a smile on his face. He had always respected his brother for that, even if he did try and hurt him in many ways.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.

A heavy silence held Temari and Kankuro. They hadn't expected that, and they deal with unexpected things the same way Gaara does, by shutting down and refusing to answer anymore question's. This time they didn't really know how to answer it, they have never had to explain it to anyone. No one ever asked.

"I don't let him touch them." Gaara answered.

He kept his eyes on the floor not wanting to look at anyone. Lee again pulled Gaara's face up to his and smiled sadly. Gaara looked away and lay down to on Sasuke's bed and found himself, drifting into sleep. Once Gaara was resting Temari turned to Lee and looked at him carefully.

She had never seen anyone care about Gaara as much as he did. It was sweet but odd at the same time.

"You really care about him don't you?" She asked. Lee nodded. Temari opened her mouth to comment but Kankuro spoke over her.

"Don't hurt him, or I will hurt you." Lee again nodded. Shocked by Kankuro's statement showing the first real sign of compassion towards his brother.

Gaara started tossing and turning in his sleep. Lee frowned and pulled the sleeping boy into his arms. Gaara calmed down and slept more peacefully as he buried his face into Lee's chest. Itachi passed the door only to be dragged in to his brother's room by Temari.

"What the hell gives you the right to touch my brother?" Itachi yawned, Temari's eye twitched. She was already pissed off and his arrogance was not helping the matter.

"It's not my fault he gets off on pain and can't defend himself." Temari slapped him across the face.

Sasuke's mouth dropped in unison with Naruto's. _Holy crap! This is not going to end well. Why did you have to slap him?_ Sasuke slowly moved behind Naruto, using him as a shield if need be.

"Gaara doesn't protect himself because he protects everyone else!" Temari looked at her youngest brother who was still in Lee's arms sleeping lightly.

Sasuke turned his head to his older brother while still hiding behind Naruto.

"I told you to stay away from Gaara after you started to beat him at school on Friday!" Temari's expression became demonic. Kankuro had been told about Gaara's back and had seen it when they were eating dinner. He frowned as he clenched his fists.

"You did that to my brother?" Temari took hold of Itachi's arm and in a second he was thrown across the room in to the wall.

Gaara's eyes snapped open, Sasuke let out a small squeak at his wall, Gaara moved to see what was going on. Lee held him tighter. Itachi stood and dusted himself off as if nothing had happened then he turned and threw a punch at Temari but Kankuro caught it and twisted his arm. Itachi kicked him, Kankuro went backwards, and Temari and Itachi began again.

Gaara closed his eyes he couldn't watch this. Temari cried out in pain. Itachi had her arm twisted behind her back and pushed against the wall. Kankuro was attempting to pull himself off the ground. Gaara looked again, Sasuke and Naruto were shocked and standing at the door, Lee was holding him and his siblings were getting the crap kicked out of them. Something inside him snapped and despite his injuries broke free of Lee.

He took two pained steps to the older figure that was holding down his sister, and kicked Itachi causing him to release Temari and stumble backwards. Kankuro and Temari forced themselves up. Itachi looked at Gaara, Gaara just returned the look but with pure anger in his eyes. He stood and grasped Gaara's injured arm and twisted it, as he had Temari's only much to his disappointment Gaara didn't cry out. Itachi frowned as Gaara took him by the hair and pulled his face level to his. (Hehehe Gaara is short and it annoys him) Itachi for the first time looked Gaara in the eyes, there was nothing, no fear, no joy, nothing, and Gaara then took Itachi by the throat.

"You think I get off on pain? I'll tell you a secret, I don't." Gaara's voice was dark, which made his siblings tense.

They had never seen the smaller boy like that. "Until I met Sasuke, Naruto and Lee I didn't know anything else but pain. But not physical pain, it never affected me when my father hit me, because I wasn't worried about myself. I only ever cared about protecting Temari and Kankuro." Naruto's heart skipped a beat.

Gaara put himself through hell to protect people who only seem to hurt him emotionally and mentally that made no sense. "But now I have more people to protect and more people to protect them from. No physical pain doesn't bother me at all, I welcome it, it's the lesser of two evils. It's the mental pain I can't stand, the reason I can't sleep, the reason I flinch away every time someone tries to touch me. Face it Itachi. You can't break me." Gaara released his grip and turned away, his body hurt and he couldn't see straight.

"Who protects you then Gaara?" Itachi called in an attempt to hit a weakness.

"We do" Temari answered gesturing to the other boys as well.

"Because we love Gaara no matter what." Lee put an arm round him to show his care for hi and because he could see the boy was about to faint.

Gaara smiled at his friends and family. He was loved? Itachi left the room and went back to his own room. Temari agreed not to press charges seeing as Sasuke was a friend and her brother had just owned Itachi.

Gaara fell onto Sasuke's bed, he couldn't handle this much excitement, all he wanted to do was fade away however knowing that wouldn't happen he settled for lying face down on Sasuke's bed. _This day could have gone so much better! Fuck now what do they all think of me? Am I weak or strong? If I had done that it Itachi in the first place then this wouldn't have happened! Argh I need panadol!_ Gaara's mind was screaming.

He honestly didn't know how to feel. Lee placed a hand on Gaara's back to which he responded with a muffled comment that no one could make out. Lee then poked his arm until the red head rolled onto his back and looked up at the roof.

Naruto who had been silent the whole time finally spoke.

"Wanna get some Ramen?" Everyone glared at him. Gaara inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. _Leave it to the blond to ask something that out of place._

"Yea." Gaara answered as he sat up.

The group walked around, Gaara was annoyed at his crutch but he only had to be on it for a week, his injuries looked worse then they were, but Gaara was more annoyed that he had let Itachi touch him the thought of it made him shake. _Freaking pervert! Seriously I'm his younger brother's friend why the hell would … ewww!_ Gaara couldn't stop the constant stream in his mind.

Again he found himself placing his head down on the table cradled by his arms. _Maybe they don't think any less of me, or differently. But god if dad finds out…fuck if dad finds out I am as good as dead! Oh this day sucks! Why didn't I stay in school…oh yea because I'm a fucking idiot who doesn't want anyone to see me in a weak light!_ His thoughts, or rather mental abuse of himself were interrupted by Gai, Lee's foster dad and his homeroom teacher rushing up to them.

"Lee I have some horrid news. The teachers have gone on strike," he proclaimed as if it was the end of the world, to some teachers it was but to others it was like a godsend, not hard to guess which side Gai was on. He looked as if he was about to cry, he didn't take any notice of Gaara or his injuries as he looked at his son with eyes almost begging for reassurance.

"So you're going to home school me?" Lee raised an over sized eyebrow wondering why his father was telling him this, he was a teenager he didn't care if school was on or not. Gai did the same, as the thought hadn't crossed his mind.

He pondered on the concept for sometime.

"Lee don't give him ideas!" Temari whispered across the table they were sitting at. Lee, realizing what he had just done went wide eyes and spun around to look at his foster father.

"I would love to home school you Lee but I need to go to the bored so I will be gone for a while." Lee nodded as his foster father ran out of sight and then sighed in relief. _ That was close. Note to self: don't ever do that again!_ Lee thought and turned his attention back to the conversation.

"What I don't understand is how Itachi knew what would happen if he bit Gaara's neck." Naruto yawned joining in the discussion.

"I want to know why Gaara knew what would happen." Kankuro raised an eyebrow. Lee and Gaara blushed and looked away from each other.

Not only was everyone treating Gaara like a victim, but now his older brother suddenly cared what he did in his free time with his friends and his boyfriend._ He's my boyfriend Kankuro I can do what I like to him…with him! I said with…anyway it's none of your business what I do in my free time…or where I do it._ Gaara pouted in his mind, he didn't want to make things worse so he kept his mouth shut.

"Itachi probably read Sasuke's diary." Temari put the idea forwards. The whole group turned and looked at Sasuke with questioning faces. Temari had seen the little navy book under his pillow when Gaara had moved to confront Itachi and to top it all in little gold letters on the cover was the title 'Sasuke's Diary'.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what it was or whom it belonged to. Sasuke went a faint red and refused to comment on the subject. Naruto kept looking at Gaara with eyes of someone who had just ran over a puppy with a car. It was getting rather uncomfortable. At any rate Temari decided that it was best for Gaara to have some rest and the three siblings left for home.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

Gaara sighed as lay on his bed. The morning was dark and he was the only one home. Temari had gone out shopping and Kankuro was out looking for a shop to fix his puppet. Lee and Sasuke were at the athletics field training. Despite the fact that school had been on strike for the past week.

He missed Lee; he also missed the company that seemed to vanish when he went home to rest after the day with Itachi. The room was silent and soon it would rain, or that's what it looked like. He wouldn't mind, he liked the rain it was soothing. A heavy, furry ball appeared on his chest.

"Shukaku!" Gaara smiled as he patted the raccoon.

The raccoon was happy to receive the affection and snuggled down to sleep. Again Gaara felt alone as his friend slept on his chest. _I miss the company._ He sighed.

"Gaara! You home?" Naruto called as he walked through the door. _And suddenly I miss the solitude. _Gaara mused.

And sighed as he thought about giving Naruto a lecture in the proper way to enter someone's house…oh god he has become Temari. The thought shook him as he pictured him in one of Temari's school dress. _Didn't need to see that… or the fact that I would look better in it then she does…_

"Yea!" he called down to the blond. He waited until the blond was in the room before he sat up on the edge of his bed, causing the sleeping raccoon to slide off and run under the bed.

Naruto joined him and sat next to him on the bed. For once Naruto wasn't talking. It was peaceful. But unnerving. He obviously had something on his mind, and no doubt Gaara was going to be the one who would be listening to it and giving advice seeing as how Sasuke is training for javelin.

However, Naruto never spoke a word of his mind. Not at first. Gaara was now starting to get suspicious of why the blond had wanted his company.

"How are you?" Naruto asked after some time. Gaara didn't need to think about the answer._ I almost got rapped by my friends older brother two days after my father sent me to the hospital… how the fuck do you think I am?_ But for the sake of his friend he paused for a moment and faked pondering the question.

"I think Lee hates me." He whispered after he couldn't take the look of Naruto's blue eyes.

Naruto raised an eyebrow as his eyes wondered to his neck where Itachi had left marks. _Damn it Itachi! You are so lucky that he didn't have you arrested! _Naruto frowned.

"Why?"

"Well, ever since Itachi… he hasn't really seemed to care as much. He's always busy. I feel like he…" Naruto cut off Gaara. Naruto pushed Gaara down on to the bed and then lay over him. The red head was about to object and question when the blond pushed his lips against his.

Gaara widened his eyes in shock, what was going on? This couldn't be happening? What the fuck? Naruto kept his lips against Gaara's, and then began to nip at his lower lip, asking for permission to deepen the kiss. Gaara tried to push Naruto off, only to have both his arms forced above his head, affectively holding the red head down. Once again Naruto nipped at Gaara's lips wanting to explore the red heads mouth. _The fuck is going on with everyone lately? Why does this keep happening to me?_ Again Gaara's body acted of its own accord and he felt his lips part. _Why can't I control this? What the hell is wrong with me? He isn't Lee! I shouldn't let him do this, so why can't I stop it?_ At which Naruto broke the kiss and pulled away allowing Gaara to move about freely.

Gaara sat up and looked at Naruto who seemed as if nothing had happened. _This doesn't make any sense! I hate this! GOD DAMN IT! WHY CAN'T I FIGURE THIS OUT!_ Gaara looked at the floor in confusion. His body had betrayed him twice now, and it made him sick that he had no self-control.

"Did that feel the same as when you kiss Lee?" Gaara shook his head, unable to do much more. "Lee is worried because of the reaction you gave when Itachi bit you."

Suddenly Gaara knew that Naruto had not kissed him for a sleazy reason, he wanted to demonstrate the physical reaction to being aroused.

"But…I couldn't control my body…I didn't want to. But I …" Gaara put his head in his hands. He felt sick; Lee didn't want to see him because now all he could see when he looked at the boy was him moaning under Itachi.

Gaara found himself shaking his head._ I am going to be sick this… that son of a bitch Itachi! Oh god…_

"Gaara, Lee knows it wasn't an emotional reaction, but think about it…he managed to get you back to his house and mess around with you so much you couldn't say your own name, but then you were able to defend yourself no problem in Sasuke's room." Naruto continued.

Gaara jumped off the bed in distress.

"But... He was hurting Temari and Kankuro… look at my neck! Do you really think I would want this from anyone on my neck! The cuts will take weeks to heal!" Gaara was on the verge of tears, this was nothing like he had expected when Naruto first walked through the door five minutes ago.

This was more then he wanted to face, it wasn't fair, he couldn't do that to him.

"At least yours will heal!" Naruto snapped causing Gaara to stiffen. Naruto looked at the wall and brought his fingers up to his cheeks. _Those marks on his face are scars! _ Gaara realized and sat back down next to the blond.

A silence held them again before Naruto spoke.

"When I first met Sasuke Itachi offered to walk me home because it was late. Sasuke got worried when it was past eight and Itachi wasn't back yet, so he walked four blocks to my house and found me tied to the bed with Itachi standing over me with a blooded knife. He carved in to my face. The point is Itachi is a sadistic bastard and will try to get revenge on you for beating him. He still tries to get at me and Sasuke." Naruto turned to look at Gaara who looked as if he was going to faint.

Itachi had done this before? Then why the hell didn't anyone stop him the first time! What the hell was wrong with these people?

"And you're dating Sasuke?" Naruto nodded and Gaara raised an eyebrow.

"Yep."

"That's…unexpected…" Gaara responded.

"Well… when I first met Sasuke both of us were straight." Naruto shrugged as if it was no big thing.

Gaara just stared at him. _Wait… you and Sasuke were both straight…but after his older brother mutilated you and attempted to rape you…you two start dating…that makes even less sense then you two dating in the first place! I mean seriously!_

"The Fuck?" Gaara asked unable to actually voice his opinion in a more thoughtful way. Naruto didn't take any offence to the red heads question. 

"I love Sasuke." The blond shrugged.

Gaara looked out of the window in thought about that word. 'Love' it was a strong emotion and no one had ever really showed him it. Sure Temari and Kankuro say they love him but nothing they ever did seemed to hold love. His thoughts then wondered to Lee. Did he love him? Did Lee love him back? Was he in love? Or was he just going to get hurt? Naruto pulled him out of his mind again.

"Come on, I have to put a lily at my parents grave." The blond helped Gaara up.

Lee caught sight of a javelin flying towards him and embedded itself in the ground just in front of him. _Now there are only two people I know who can aim that well, me and a certain district champion who also seems to have something against me for the last three days…_Lee thought ashe stopped running and walked up to Sasuke.

Sure enough Sasuke had been the one the aim his javelin at the runner and was now giving him a death glare as he slowly approached.

"I assume you want to talk seeing and you almost skewered me." Lee raised an eyebrow while keeping his tone happy and optimistic.

"Why are you avoiding Gaara?" Sasuke asked as he dragged Lee off behind the bleachers. Lee looked at the ground.

He hadn't been expecting that even though he knew he should have been. He had been avoiding seeing Gaara for about a week and it wasn't because he didn't want to see him, but he couldn't look at him with out a sick feeling hitting his chest. The truth was he missed Gaara and was almost desperate to see him.

"Gaara liked what Itachi was doing. I know it was a physical reaction and he couldn't control it. But I …" Lee's voice was that of someone who was very hurt. It was smaller then a whisper. Sasuke gave a worried look. _Damn it one day I am going to kill Itachi if he doesn't stop screwing around with my friends!_

"Lee, Itachi has a way of using something so he can get his way." Lee wasn't really listening. Sasuke sighed. In one fluid movement he had Lee against the wall. _If this helps him understand then I can deal with it._ Sasuke grazed his lips against Lee's.

A blush crawled up Lee's face. Sasuke moved away.

"See, Gaara's reaction had nothing to do with emotion. Itachi can get that reaction out of anyone." Sasuke turned and walked away. Lee frowned and took out his phone.

"Gaara!"

"Lee? What's wrong?"

"Listen I … I miss you, can I come over?"

"Well I'm with Naruto…visiting his parents grave, but I should be back soon…Naruto! Stay away from the open graves! Naruto! … Oh god now your in a hole!"

"Alright, I'll see you soon." 

Lee found his way to Gaara's house. He needed to see him; he needed to apologize for his behavior. The day was rather dismal; the sky was overcast as the whole week had been. It put Lee in a morbid mood, but seeing Gaara was sure to cheer him up. All he wanted was to curl up on the couch with the red head and watch a movie or read a book or just talk anything really.

Lee heard footsteps and he turned to see Gaara walking up to the door where he sat like an obedient pet waiting for his master. Gaara was covered in dirt, his hair looked like he had died it and his clothes were dusty and now stained. The taller boy widened his eyes, as the short one just looked at him and then unlocked the door and continued into his house.

Lee fallowed and waited for an explanation from his boyfriend.

"Naruto dies." Gaara said sounding firmly pissed off. Lee realized that Naruto had pushed or pulled him into the open grave when he fell in. Gaara looked at him with his expression neutral.

Lee smiled and ruffled Gaara's hair causing the dirt and dust to slip out onto the floor. Gaara looked at the dirt on the ground and then up at Lee. _Damn fucking Naruto…pulls me into an open grave. Who does that? Seriously? What kind of freak drags someone into a grave?_ Gaara sighed as he shook the thoughts and more of the soil from his head.

"Gaara, you need a shower." Lee laughed as he cleared his face of some dirt. Gaara blushed. He turned a walked up to his room; Lee-fallowing shaking his head smiling as every step caused more dirt to trail.

Gaara came out of his bathroom dressed in only his jeans, drying his hair with a towel, his eyeliner already done. Once again Lee found himself unable to stop himself from tracing the boy's body with his eyes. Lee could feel himself becoming less and less able to restrain himself. A blush rose to his face as he replayed their first kiss in his head. Gaara looked at Lee.

That did it, that one little glance Gaara gave Lee, broke his self control. Lee walked over to the shorter boy; Gaara looked at Lee in confusion as he grabbed him and dragged him towards the bed. Gaara was pushed onto his bed for the second time that day, he had no idea what was going on all he knew was he was laying on the bed with Lee climbing on top of him. _The fuck is with everyone today?_ Lee straddled him, Gaara widened his eyes slightly as Lee forced his arms above his head, and then, without warning Lee began to nip and kiss at the crimson haired boy's neck.

Gaara threw his head back and moaned, his body acting without consent soon

Gaara felt dizzy as his heart raced and his mind stopped trying to figure out what had just happened. The moan caused Lee's pants to become uncomfortably tight. Gaara felt this reaction and soon his body mimicked Lee's arousal. Lee didn't notice Gaara's erection until Gaara jerked his hips upwards, craving Lee's touch. Lee taken by surprise loosened his grip on Gaara's wrists; Gaara jerked his hips again, only to be met by Lee copying the action. Gaara moaned again as the friction caused a pleasant and exciting feeling in his lower regions.

Lee took his chance and captured his lips in his own. Gaara's hands moved freely along the taller boy's shirt before it was removed and tossed on the floor. Gaara bit Lee's lip causing the boy to make a sound of pleasure. The taller boy pulled the latter closer to him; both were shirtless, panting and desperate for the other as the movement of their hips increased its speed. Lee released Gaara's lips and gazed down at the boy underneath him.

His red hair was ruffled, his cheeks were flushed, and eyes were laden with lust and desire and his panting breath caused his chest to rise and fall. Lee ran his hands along Gaara's chest and stopped at the rim of his jeans. He glanced at the red head and carefully slipped his hands below the material. Gaara drew a sharp breath as he felt Lee's hand touching skin that no one had touched before. Lee, worried that his action had gone too far began removing his hand from his boyfriends pants however, because Gaara wore tight, skinny jeans, Lee's hand rubbed against Gaara's throbbing member. The red head closed his eyes and moaned as his hips wrenched upwards, Lee froze, his hand half way between the hem of the jeans and Gaara's limb.

Gaara opened his eyes slightly and looked up at Lee who was looking at him.

"…More…" Gaara demanded as he panted. Lee smirked and moved his hand further down and gently gripped the smaller boy's manhood.

Gaara grabbed onto his blankets as Lee slowly and gently began moving his hand up and down. After some time the gentle slow movements weren't pleasing the boy as much as it should have been. His body was hot and sensitive to every stroke of Lee's hand. Gaara looked up at Lee.

"Faster." He whispered, though it sounded a lot louder.

Lee looked again at the boy under him; an evil smirk crossed his face.

"Now, Gaara is that anyway to ask for something, you need to use your manners." Lee looked at him waiting. Gaara just huffed in response; he could tell he wasn't going to get Gaara to admit to being desperate like that.

So Lee then slowed the movement of his hand even more so. Gaara groaned, it was slow, agonizingly slow, he couldn't take it, and he needed more.

"…Please Lee…faster…" he begged as his hips quivered. Lee's eyes lit up as he saw his boyfriend begging him.

He carefully gripped the shaft tighter and began pumping faster. Gaara moaned loudly in reaction to the new speed. It didn't take him long after that to reach braking point and he came. Lee removed his hand and lay down beside the flushed and panting Gaara. Gaara took a deep breath and then rolled on top of Lee.

"Your turn." Gaara stated looking at the boy's expression. Lee shook his head.

"It's ok, you don't hav…" his voice hitched as Gaara undid his pants and clutched Lee's own member. He was already hard beyond comprehension. Gaara smirked at Lee's reaction and decided to draw out every minute of it.

He ran his finger up and down the shaft as he bit Lee's lower lip. The boy mewled in anticipation and his length grew eager for the red heads touch. Lee began to whimper, he was already so close after watching Gaara wither under him and moaning his name, only a few firm strokes and he would be done and Gaara knew that. Lee's body began to shake from the tension and finally Gaara complied and tugged on the boy's shaft five times before his seed spilled. Lee zipped up his jeans as Gaara fell down on the bed beside him. Gaara was pulled into a soft kiss and then lay there in Lee's arms. Lee kissed the top of his head.

Some one cleared their voice at the doorway causing Lee and Gaara to turn their attention to where the noise came from. Lee's heart stopped. Sasuke and Naruto were leaning against the doorframe with the same smirk on their face. Lee and Gaara blushed in unison.

"I told you Gaara would be on the bottom." Naruto smirked.

"Yea, but Lee was on the bottom too." Sasuke countered. _Oh fuck, they were watching that?_ Lee's mind froze as he saw the confirmation in Naruto's blue eyes.

Gaara through Lee's shirt at him and then put one on himself and looked at the two intruders.

Lee had come out of his stupor and was now standing beside Gaara with his arm around his waist as Gaara leant into his chest.

"Hey Naruto there's this thing called knocking have you heard of it?" Lee raised an eyebrow. Sasuke just laughed and joined the other two. Naruto explained his idea of going shopping. Lee agreed but Gaara didn't, Temari and Kankuro were at the mall shopping and he didn't want to be dragged into looking for a place to fix his brothers puppet. So the three boys went and left Gaara at home alone. Not that Gaara really cared however.

Temari and Kankuro walked out of the mall followed by Lee, Sasuke and Naruto. She had spotted them and forced them to help her bring home the shopping where as Kankuro was holding his now fixed puppet. _You know Kankuro I am starting to think you are completely useless…_ Temari commented silently as she watched her brother carry the doll around for dear life.

The car trip home was awkward as no one talked. It was dark now; all five of them had been out of most of the day, now it was 8pm. Lee had been caught blushing numerous times as his mind continued to slip back to Gaara. To keep the taller boys mind on the task at hand Naruto started up a conversation about what he wanted to do once he was old enough.

The three teenagers left what Lee and Gaara had been doing out of the conversation. The idea of getting away the second the car stopped was dashed when Lee offered the boys services to help bring the bags inside for Temari as well. Although Naruto and Sasuke protested and voiced their objections they still helped the other bring the bags in to the dark house for fear of Temari repeating her actions with Itachi. Temari turned the key in the door and walked in. There was no noise from Gaara upstairs and the group assumed he was resting.

Temari then turned away from the stairs and walked into the kitchen. It was dark and even though she knew exactly where the switch was it took her some time to manage to bring her hand up and turn on the light. Light flooded the small room, and then ever so suddenly, her face dropped from content.

"What the fuck?" she screamed.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

"What the fuck?" Temari screamed as she dropped her bags of groceries onto the floor. An excellent question considering the state of the room when she left it and the state it was in when she returned. The kitchen was destroyed.

There were splinters of wood everywhere from the now broken chairs and table lay clustered around the room, _oh god not the mahogany!_ Most of the dishes were smashed, _and the china? Fuck! That's not fair I like the china!_ There was blue paint; feathers and chocolate sauce splattered everywhere, _what the hell! We don't even have blue paint! Nothing in this house is blue! Where the fuck did the feathers come from and I don't even want to know about the chocolate sauce! _Basically there was nothing left in-tacked.

Temari's thoughts were frantic however she was unable to voice more then a few certain words at a time.

"What the fuck happened to my kitchen?" Temari screamed again obviously very pissed off. Who wouldn't be? Her kitchen was now useless. Kankuro, sensing his sister's rage walked past her and into the lounge room. _Like hell I am staying in there to be abused for no reason._

"I don't know but I'm out of the line of fire." He stated as he flicked the light on for the lounge room.

Once in there however he was able to share Temari's pain.

"What the Fuck!" he yelled causing everyone to run into the room. The furniture was destroyed and slashed to pieces, feathers, paint, chocolate sauce and numerous other things were littering the room, the CD player was smashed as was the T.V. _why the plasma? We only got it a month ago! Why? Dear god why do you hate me?_ Kankuro felt like a victim in his own house. _Who ever did this is going to…no fucking way…what the hell!_ His thoughts jumped around as his eyes fell on what was the most humors and sad sight any of them had ever seen.

In the center of the room was a ceiling fan. The fan was turned on so it was rotating and attached by some rope was Gaara. He was covered in blue paint, some feathers, chocolate sauce and he was tied upside down by his feet to the fan, which was causing him to slowly rotate as well. His arms were crossed over his chest as he slowly turned around._ That explains so very much and yet…so little…_Temari turned her head sideways trying to make sense of the scene in front of her. Gaara currently had his back to them with his eyes closed.

"Gaara what the fuck happened here?" Temari yelled as he was forced to face them. Gaara opened his eyes to see the group upside down and passing him in a line as he slowly turned. _I am getting so dizzy…_Gaara thought.

"Oh, when did you guys get here?" he asked as he passed them. On sighting Sasuke he spoke again. "Tell your brother this means war."

Sasuke looked confused for a moment. _What the hell is he on about? Itachi is…oh shit!_ Sasuke's mind suddenly clicked to what Gaara was implying and the past week of his brothers strange actions became clear. Then he looked back up at the figure.

"Oh god that's why he's been giggling all week!" Gaara just nodded as the fan caused him to turn his back on them.

The line went in this order: Naruto, Lee, Temari, Kankuro and finally Sasuke. Each of them held the same expression on their face, complete confusion.

"Gaara how long have you been like that?" Naruto asked. _An excellent question! How long have I been upside down?_

"What time is it?" he asked.

"Eight." Gaara pondered for a moment. _Hmmm…well let's see, Lee and the others left at about two…Itachi showed up at about three…been up here since about quarter to four so…_

"About four hours and fifteen minutes…give or take." He answered as he past Naruto again.

Lee was dumbfounded and couldn't find any words to describe his feelings. He past Lee and expected to see Temari however when he got there he noticed Temari's absence. _Oh god where did she go? And why has no one turned off the fan yet? Why am I still upside down?_ Gaara's mind was disjointed as the blood was still rushing to his head.

Once again he past Sasuke and was left looking at the back wall while he thought. After a moment he past Naruto and his boyfriend. The upside down sight was amusing; it was odd to see everyone from this angle.

"Where did Temari go?" he asked as he past his brother again. Sounding much more like a kid then he should have which could be explained by the rush of blood to his head.

"Up to her room." Kankuro replied. Gaara's face went from slightly delirious and innocent to completely terrified. _Her room? Oh shit! No! No! NO! _

"Oh god don't let her in her room!"

"Why?" Lee asked.

Before Gaara could answer a voice could be heard from upstairs and it sounded like all hell was about to break lose.

"…WHAT THE FUCK…" it was Temari. And she was now beyond pissed.

"Get me down." Gaara begged as he attempted to untie his feet and failing at it. None of them made a move unsure if they should or not.

"Why?" Naruto asked again. _What could be so bad about…_

"Get me down _now!_" he urged. Again they questioned him.

"GAARA" everyone looked up at the stairs then back to the younger boy who was now very panicked.

"Before I am her person piñata!" Gaara pleaded as Lee and the others began to untie him.

Carefully the three set him down. The sudden rush of being right side up caught him off guard, _oh god…feeling sick now…gonna die…can't stand right…time to run._ Gaara attempted to take a few shaky steps only to be grabbed roughly by his older sister who looked extremely pissed off.

"Gaara. WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO MY ROOM!" she screamed in his ear causing everyone in the room to wince. _Well I could tell her or I could run for my life which I would prefer to keep…hmmmm, I think I will go with option two…_however running wasn't a possibility as Temari had a firm grip on him.

He sighed before he looked up.

"Well…the thing with that is… that's where this all started…" Temari took a deep breath and escorted the three boys out of the house then turned back to Gaara. With out a word she walked past him and up to her room. _I'm not sure if I should be happy or worried about her silent treatment. At any rate I'm going to my room._ Gaara thought.

Sasuke tossed and turned in his sleep. Again he found himself lying in his bed unable to sleep. _God damn it!_ He sighed as he pulled himself out and attempted to occupy his time with mindless activities. None of which worked only causing the teen to lose his temper with the action and then found himself walking around outside. _I really shouldn't be walking around this late…early…whatever…by myself. It's not safe…not that Itachi would notice if I wasn't there when he woke up considering he's usually asleep when he's meant to be in school._

Not long had passed before his phone rang. His ring tone was 'Breaking The Habit' by Linkin Park, which caught him off guard and caused him to jump slightly at the sudden vibration and noise.

"Hello?" _who the hell would be calling me at four in the morning?_

"Sasuke!" the voice yelled down the phone.

"Temari?" Sasuke asked unable to believe that Gaara's older sister was calling him. _How did she get my number?_

"Sasuke listen…have you seen Gaara?"

"It's four in the morning! Why would I see him at four in the morning?" Sasuke questioned. _Because I always hang out with Gaara at four in the morning! _He thought sarcastically.

"Shit! The other two said the same thing."

"What other two? Naruto and Lee? What's going on Temari?" Sasuke demanded.

"Okay very long story short, Dad home…Gaara missing…Dad drunk…Gaara not answering phone…Brother and sister driving around looking for Gaara… Dad passed out on the couch."

"What the fuck! How long has Gaara been missing? Did you check the roof?" Sasuke was now panicking for his friend. _Shit that is not good!_

"Yes, he wasn't there. Sasuke can you grab him if you see him?"

"Yea…but…" the phone went dead then.

Temari had hung up. Sasuke growled in anger as he made his way towards Lee's house. _Damn it Gaara if you run off your meant to tell someone where you're going! _Sasuke scolded Gaara knowing the hypocritical scorn, as he hadn't left anything for Itachi saying where he was, but at least Sasuke had his mobile.

Why wouldn't Gaara have his mobile? That's just stupid! The two boys collided and fell to the ground. Lee and Sasuke locked eyes and then stood. Both headed off in the direction of Naruto's house. It was still dark and the two boys were running practically blind. This was not going to end well.

Naruto sat on the ground along with the others after looking through the whole town. This was getting them nowhere.

"Where would you go if you ran off?" Lee asked in an attempt to figure out where the red head was.

"Depends on who you're avoiding." Sasuke replied. He use to run away from Itachi for the first few months his parents had left. Each time he ran he went somewhere different, different reasons cause different places to be sought out.

"Gaara is avoiding his dad. His drunken abusive dad." Naruto answered the question. The three boys sat there for a while.

They had been looking for an hour. And no luck. _Think! Damn it, where would you go if you were running away from your abusive father. You already did! Where did you go before the foster system! _Lee yelled at himself trying to make an idea form. _Where did you go? What did you do? He hit you, and beat you and almost…what did I do when I ran away? I took my knife and ran…where did I run too?_ He attempted to coax is memory to unblock his past so he could think clearly.

"Ok think. We've looked at the graveyard, and the school and the stream which is where anyone running away would spend the night." Sasuke began to list where they had been.

"Unless he didn't want to come back." Naruto muttered.

Lee froze eyes wide. _What did I do? I tried to kill myself…not with the knife, where did I go? I went somewhere no one would look for me. Where no one would find me. Somewhere familiar but hidden where no one would think to look for me…I went to my dads office when he wasn't there, it was the first time I tried. Think! It's right there why can't you see it?_

Lee rubbed his temples; he was trying to think like Gaara.

But he was so worried about him he couldn't concentrate._ The first time he got caught was in the bathroom, where no one cared about him, his old school…_

"Oh god Gaara's at Blackwood high!" Lee yelled as he took off in the direction of said school. Sasuke and Naruto ran to keep up. _Gaara please don't do something stupid. Please!_ All three begged silently.

"Lee…how… do you … know?" Sasuke asked as he ran. Lee ignored him and continued running. He had seen Blackwood a number of times in his life but he had never been in there. The gates came into view and through the iron bars you could see the outline of the school. _Great now how the fuck are we meant to get in there?_ The boys slowed and then stopped looking around for a way inside.

Nothing was more unsettling then not being able to see Gaara, or knowing if he's hurt or not._ Shit! Why the hell would he run away anyway!_ Sasuke complained as he noticed there was no way in.

"I'm not in there." Called a voice from up a tree. The group stopped and looked up to where the voice came from. Sitting in the tree was Gaara. With his raccoon. He dropped down to meet the three.

"Gaara…" Lee began. Unable to finish the thought he pulled him into an embrace, which the red head returned feeling bad that he had worried so many people. _I didn't think Temari would call my boyfriend just because I disappeared for a few hours._

"I didn't want to be there when the cops showed up." He answered the unspoken question, his voice muffled by Lee's chest but still auditable.

Lee pulled him away from him so he could look at him. The boys looked at him in confusion.

"Cops?" Naruto asked as Sasuke called Temari. Temari could be heard screaming through the phone something about being there in no more then seven minutes. Either way it Sasuke's ears ringing.

"Yea, the hospital went through my records and saw all my past injuries so they called the cops. I got a call from one of the nurses and I left." Gaara shrugged acting as if it was nothing to worry about.

Temari and Kankuro pulled up minutes later.

"Gaara I just got a call from dad asking me to bail him out of jail on 'false abuse' charges." She explained as she hugged him. Gaara looked at her questioningly. _And your not pissed off that I took away our other parent?_ Gaara asked silently as he attempted to pull out of the crushing hug…'attempted' being the key word. Kankuro spoke next.

"She told him to rote in hell!" he grinned.

Lee sighed as Temari and Kankuro explained that they had spoken to the police officer and had confirmed the hospitals suspicions. The other two boys let out a breath they didn't know they were holding.

Gaara felt conflicted, _sure dad is abusive and a drunk and horrid and wanted me to die and…wait where I am going with this?_ Gaara mused. His dad wasn't getting out. Not ever which meant one of two things:

1) All he had to deal with now was Itachi, and 2) he had a fan girl as a guardian. _Itachi I can deal with trust me he will rue the day he pissed me off… but Temari as a guardian…god help me…_Despite this Gaara smiled.

True his life wasn't perfect and he had a hell of a past to deal with but things were starting to look better, he had a new life to start in a few hours. Until then he was happy to sit under the tree until dawn.

THE END. 


End file.
